Turkey next week will start administering the antiviral drug molnupiravir to coronavirus patients. Professor Alper Şener, a member of the Health Ministry’s Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board said the drug will be effective in suppressing the virus’ impact on the body.
"I believe it will reduce the rate of hospitalization and intensive care need especially among patients at the age of 65 and above and those with additional chronic illnesses," he said.
Şener told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Friday that it will also mark the first time the country will put a locally produced drug to use against the deadly disease. The introduction of the drug comes at a time when Turkey is struggling with a new wave in the pandemic, aggravated by the fast-spreading omicron variant.
On Thursday, the country reported 107,530 new cases in one day while daily fatalities reached 233. It is among the highest daily figures since late December when the number of cases fluctuated around 20,000 daily.
Turkey is relying on its vaccination program and has been urging the public to get their booster shots as two doses of vaccine is seen as insufficient for full protection against the infection. The number of doses administered since January 2021 neared 142 million while more than 52 million people have received their two doses of vaccine. Yet, the number of people with three doses of vaccine remains around 25.3 million.
Şener said molnupiravir would be administered to senior citizens and people with chronic diseases like diabetes. The drug primarily aims to prevent viruses from holding onto the lungs, the part of the body it hits most. He added that the drug would be administered twice a day during the five-day treatment. He noted that the doses are far lower compared to favipiravir, another drug widely used in the early days of the pandemic in Turkey, adding that this could alleviate people’s concerns about antiviral drugs against COVID-19.
Developed by the U.S. pharmaceutical company Merck, molnupiravir is projected to boost drug sales in 2022 up to $6 billion, according to a financial statement by the company released Thursday. The company announced last year that the drug reduced hospitalizations and deaths by 30% based on clinical trials on adults with high-risk factors. It was approved as a second at-home drug treatment for the virus by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Dec. 23, a day after Pfizer's Paxlovid got the green light. Merck has delivered 1.4 million courses of molnupiravir after approval. The company is planning to deliver 3.1 million courses across the U.S. in the following months, in addition to supplying 4 million courses to 25 countries this year, CEO Rob Davis said.
On the surge in cases, Şener said they expected this trend to continue for a while but a decline is anctipated by the end of February. "Though the number of cases is high, we don’t see any challenge to hospitals in terms of hospitalizations," he noted.