Mexico City.- The use of molnupiravir, the oral anticovid pill that at the time was approved for the treatment of the disease in countries such as the United Kingdom, the US or Mexico, does not reduce the risk of hospitalization or death in adults with vulnerabilities vaccinated and infected with the virus. coronavirus, determined a randomized controlled trial involving more than 25,000 people.
The Lancet magazine published the conclusions this Thursday, indicating that the only positive effect of the use of molnupiravir in relation to covid-19 is the apparent acceleration of recovery in infected patients. The difference, compared to control group participants not taking the drug, was a mean of 4.2 days.
The trial was conducted in the UK between December 8, 2021 and April 27, 2022, when the omicron variant was predominantly circulating. 94% of the participants, whose average age was 56 years, had received at least three doses of an anticovid vaccine.
About half of the COVID-19 patients—12,774 people—received 800 milligrams of molnupiravir twice daily for five days, in addition to standard therapy, while the control group—12,934 people—was given the treatment alone. standard. The follow-up time of his condition was 28 days.
In the molnupiravir-treated group there were 105 cases—equivalent to 1%—of death or hospitalizations among the 12,529 participants chosen for the primary analysis, while in the control group there were 98 cases of death or hospitalization, also representing the 1% of the 12,525 cases analyzed.
The risk of antibiotic resistance
Study co-author Ly-Mee Yu, from the University of Oxford, warned that as countries move forward with their strategies to manage waves of Covid-19, “the problem of antibiotic resistance should not be forgotten.” .
“While it is crucial to ensure that patients likely to benefit from treatment with antivirals, such as molnuvirapyr, receive them, the use of antivirals to treat patients unlikely to benefit carries the risk of further driving antimicrobial resistance, wasting resources and expose people to unnecessary harm,” he said.
