Besides the available covid vaccines that are being distributed all over the world, experts are also analyzing some viable covid treatments as well.
It’s been just revealed that a five-day cure of molnupiravir, the new medicine that is being hailed as a “huge advance” in the treatment of Covid-19, costs $17.74 to produce, according to a report issued last week by drug pricing experts at the Harvard School of Public Health and King’s College Hospital in London.
Merck charges the US gov. 40 times its price
The Interccept.com revealed that Merck is charging the U.S. government $712 for the same amount of medicine, or 40 times the price.
Just in case you don’t know, a recent announcement that the new medicine cut the risk of hospitalization among clinical trial participants with moderate or mild illness in half could have huge implications for the course of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the same notes mentioned above.
The treatment is now a pill – as opposed to monoclonal antibodies, a comparable antiviral treatment that is administered intravenously – molnupiravir is expected to be more widely used.
The treatment could cut death rate
More than that, it is believed that this will be able to cut the death rate.
The online publication mentioned above notes that “In the first 29 days of the trial, no deaths were reported among the 385 patients who received the drug, while eight of the people who received a placebo died, according to the statement put out by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, the two companies that are jointly launching it.”
According to the official notes, because federal agencies spent at least $29 million on the drug’s development, the government has the obligation to ensure that the medicine is affordable.
“The public funded this drug, and therefore the public has some rights, including the rights you have it available under reasonable terms,” said Luis Gil Abinader, senior researcher at Knowledge Ecology International.
In other recent related news, ABCNews notes that the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said he would support mandating the Covid-19 vaccines for air travel.
