WHO: novel drugs may support fight against COVID-19 in 2022

World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Regional Director for Europe, Hans Kluge has reportedly stated that new drugs developed against COVID-19 will intensify the survival rate for patients suffering from severe COVID conditions in 2022.

The European Drugs Agency, EU's drug regulator, has suggested using two antiviral pills of Covid-19 Pfizer's Paxlovid and Merck's Molnupiravir after formal approval.

Mr. Kluge claims that the agency is enthralled by the arrival of new drugs expected to come in the market in 2022 which will increase the chances of survival in hospitalized patients with severe Covid-19.

Both the medicines, Paxlovid and Molnupiravir, have demonstrated reducing the chances of hospitalization or death from Covid-19 in patients with high risk by 89% and 30%, respectively.

He also stressed that the next-generation vaccines would be more effective against the new developing strains.

Mr. Kluge pointed out that the future cannot be predicted. But the current vaccines are the first generation of Covid-19 vaccines, and vaccines produced for the future will be enhanced and adapted to new or evolving variants, making them superior and effective.

As per Pfizer, lab tests indicate that Paxlovid continues to work against the fast transmitting new variant Omicron. Albert Bourla, the company CEO, projected that the pills could prevent 1,200 deaths and 6,000 hospitalizations for every 100,000 COVID patients who take the pills.

The permission for molnupiravir is restricted to adults over 18 who possess a high risk of contracting severe illness and for the people for whom the FDA-authorized treatment options are not available or medically suitable, said the US Food and Drug Administration in a statement.

Furthermore, Pfizer and Merck's pills should be taken as early as 3-5 days of getting COVID, and it requires multiple pills, several times a day for around five days.

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