Capsules of Merck's Covid-19 antiviral molnupiravir.
Courtesy MerckMerck presented a study at a medical conference early Wednesday showing that its experimental Covid-19 antiviral is active against variants of the virus that causes the sickness.
The Merck product, known as molnupiravir, is one of a number of antiviral pills under development to treat and even prevent Covid-19. Pivotal data on some of the pills, including those from Merck (ticker: MRK) and from Pfizer (PFE), is likely to be available soon. Executives from both companies have said they plan to file for emergency-use authorization before the end of the year.
As Barron’s reported in a magazine feature earlier this month, the pills have the potential to play an enormous role as the world adapts to an endemic threat from Covid-19. Even if the antivirals from Merck, Pfizer, the biotech Atea Pharmaceuticals (AVIR), and others, are only moderately effective, they are likely to be in enormous demand globally as patients and governments seek to blunt the human toll of the virus.
Currently available therapeutics for Covid-19, including the monoclonal antibody therapies from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN), and others, are generally administered intravenously, which makes them inconvenient for widespread use. Pills would allow for much broader access.
The new study from Merck answers one vital question about the antiviral pills: Would their efficacy be weakened by the rapid mutation of the virus, as has happened with the Covid-19 vaccines?
The study, presented at IDWeek 2021, a medical conference focusing on infectious diseases, examined data from two separate clinical trials of molnupiravir and in vitro studies of the drug. The authors found that mutations of the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus didn’t impact the work of the drug against the virus.
“Both in vitro and clinical data suggest that spike protein substitutions do not impact antiviral activity of [molnupiravir] and suggest molnupiravir’s potential for the treatment of SARSCoV-2 variants, particularly when initiated early in the course of illness,” the authors wrote.
The response to the drug was greatest in patients who had been symptomatic for five days or fewer when they began treatment, they said.
Merck, which is developing molnupiravir in partnership with the private firm Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, is running Phase 3 trials of the drug as a post-exposure prophylaxis, and in non-hospitalized adults. In April, the company said it had decided not to proceed with a study of molnupiravir in hospitalized patients after disappointing early results.
Earlier this week, Pfizer said it had begun testing its experimental Covid-19 antiviral, known as PF-07321332, as a post-exposure prophylaxis. Pfizer is also running other studies of the drug in non-hospitalized patients.
Write to Josh Nathan-Kazis at josh.nathan-kazis@barrons.com
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