Hong Kong looking to procure world's first Covid-19 pill
3 October, 2021
Hong Kong is in the process of securing the world's first Covid-19 pill, which the manufacturers claim can cut hospitalisations and deaths by half.
Sources told the South China Morning Post that health authorities planned to buy hundreds of courses of the antiviral medication, which made headlines on Friday after pharmaceutical giant MSD and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics released promising results from their trials.
The trials involved 775 adults with mild to moderate Covid-19 who were randomly picked from more than 20 countries and deemed to be highly prone to severe illness due to health problems such as obesity, diabetes or heart disease.
Half of the trial participants were given a five-day course of the experimental drug, known as molnupiravir, in the form of small, brown capsules taken twice a day, while the others received a placebo. According to the results, only 28 patients, or 7.3%, of those given the drug were hospitalised, compared with 53, or 14.1%, in the placebo group.
After the trial, no deaths were reported among those who received the drug, while the placebo group had eight. The data, however, has not been peer-reviewed and the drug has not yet been licensed for use.
Three medical sources confirmed to the South China Morning Post that Hong Kong was looking to procure the medication.
"The Hospital Authority plans to purchase 500 patient courses, but they are also thinking about more," Professor David Hui Shu-cheong, a government pandemic adviser, said on Saturday.
He revealed that the drug costs about US$700 per course for each patient.
Hui and other authority doctors said they hoped the matter would be discussed at the next meeting of the Centre for Health Protection's joint scientific committees, which was likely to take place in late October or early November.
Another source familiar with the matter said negotiations between MSD, which trades as Merck in North America, and the authority were continuing and that "no paperwork has been signed" yet.
A third source said the drug could be approved for emergency use to treat severely ill patients although it was not yet licensed by local health authorities.
"It would, however, be difficult to conduct any local study on its effectiveness, as we fortunately have so few patients in the community, and most imported cases have a low viral load," the health expert said.
Infectious disease expert Professor Ivan Hung Fan-ngai, who has looked at the trial data, said molnupiravir achieved the best results with a daily dosage of 800 milligrams given in the first week of illness, rather than lower amounts of 400 or 200 milligrams.
"It works best when given early and results in fewer hospitalisations and deaths subsequently," he said.
Hung, who co-chairs a government panel on adverse vaccine effects, noted the city's cocktail therapy for Covid-19 centred on the antiviral interferon, which also achieved its best results when given early.
"In general, early treatment is the key to success for all antivirals," he said.
A Hospital Authority source said it had been monitoring the drug's development.
"It has been on our radar all along, but we can't say how the company will distribute the drug globally," the source said, noting that US authorities had yet to authorise the pill for emergency use.
An authority spokesman said its experts had been closely monitoring the latest developments in the pandemic and clinical research. It would buy and stock medications for Covid-19 when necessary, after taking reference from the latest data from worldwide drug regulatory agencies and manufacturers.
The authority would ensure patients were prescribed new medications that were proven safe and effective, the spokesman said.
The Department of Health said it had not received any application for the registration of molnupiravir. Under the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance, doctors can import drugs that are not yet registered in the city for treating specific patients or conducting clinical trials.
MSD said it would apply for approval for emergency use for the drug in the United States within the next two weeks and make applications in several other countries as well.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/21916 ... id-19-pill
Covid pill?
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Re: Covid pill?
Govt in talks for Covid pill
Asian countries rush to get Merck drug
5 October, 2021
The government is in talks with US drugmaker Merck & Co to purchase 200,000 courses of the company's experimental Covid-19 pill, an official said on Monday.
Many Asian countries are scrambling to lock in supplies of molnupiravir, the name of the oral anti-viral drug, after lagging behind Western nations during initial rollouts of vaccines.
South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia have said they are already in preliminary purchase discussions with Merck, while the Philippines, which is running a trial on the pill, said it hopes that its domestic study will help it secure favourable procurement terms with the company.
Somsak Akksilp, director-general of the Department of Medical Services (DMS), told Reuters that Thailand is currently working on a purchase agreement for the drug which is designed to introduce errors into the genetic code of the virus, and would be the first oral antiviral medication for Covid-19.
Interim clinical trials have indicated it has the potential to halve both hospitalisations and deaths from the virus.
"We are now working on a purchasing agreement with Merck that is expected to be completed by this week ... we have pre-booked 200,000 courses," Dr Somsak said.
He said the pills could arrive as soon as December, though the deal would be subject to the pills' approval by both the United States Food and Drug Administration and its Thai equivalent.
The US company expects to produce 10 million courses of the treatment by the end of 2021 and has agreed a deal with the US government to supply 1.7 million courses at a price of $700 (about 23,600 baht) per course.
However, officials have also said there will be tiered approach to pricing based on country income criteria.
According to a report in The New York Times, the Merck anti-viral drug is meant to be taken as four capsules twice a day for five days -- a total of 40 pills over the course of treatment.
After such promising early trials, Merck and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP said on Friday that it would now, in conjunction with the US Food and Drug Administration and foreign regulatory bodies, begin the process of gaining worldwide clearance for its use.
Meanwhile, the Public Health Ministry plans to administer six million Covid-19 vaccine doses to children aged 3-11 years old next year, with the Thai Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expected to approve the use of some vaccines for children under 12 soon, he said.
Department of Disease Control director-general Opas Karnkawinpong said on Monday the ministry plans to administer 86 million doses by the end of next year, 6 million of which will be in the youngest age group.
A further 14 million will be administered as second shots, and 66 million given as third boosters, Dr Opas said.
The new target which was set as a nationwide campaign got underway to administer the Pfizer vaccine to students aged 12-18 years old.
The drive will initially focus on the worst-hit areas, which include Bangkok and its vicinity.
Dr Opas said teenage female students would definitely receive two doses, although second doses for boys were still under discussion after recent links to more serious effects from mRNA vaccines among young males.
"The vaccine is safe for students. Its use has been approved by the FDA and the World Health Organization," he said.
Thailand logged 9,930 new Covid-19 cases and 97 more fatalities during the previous 24 hours, the Public Health Ministry announced on Monday.
There were 9,568 cases in the general population and 362 among prison inmates.
Although new cases in the country dropped below 10,000 again and deaths numbered fewer than 100, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) reiterated concerns about the situation in southern provinces.
While the capital led new infections with 1,137, Yala again came second with 764, a slight decrease from the 783 announced on Sunday, and five of the top 10 provinces in the list were in the southern region, including 484 in Songkhla, 406 in Pattani, 314 in Narathiwat and 313 in Nakhon Si Thammarat.
CCSA assistant spokeswoman Apisamai Srirungson said the virus had spread from factory clusters to into workers' homes.
"Those infected in factories have started to take the virus to their families," she said.
Government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said on Monday that the first batch of 2 million antigen test kit sets would go on sale at eight Government Pharmaceutical Organization pharmacies in in the capital starting from Oct 18.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... covid-pill
Asian countries rush to get Merck drug
5 October, 2021
The government is in talks with US drugmaker Merck & Co to purchase 200,000 courses of the company's experimental Covid-19 pill, an official said on Monday.
Many Asian countries are scrambling to lock in supplies of molnupiravir, the name of the oral anti-viral drug, after lagging behind Western nations during initial rollouts of vaccines.
South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia have said they are already in preliminary purchase discussions with Merck, while the Philippines, which is running a trial on the pill, said it hopes that its domestic study will help it secure favourable procurement terms with the company.
Somsak Akksilp, director-general of the Department of Medical Services (DMS), told Reuters that Thailand is currently working on a purchase agreement for the drug which is designed to introduce errors into the genetic code of the virus, and would be the first oral antiviral medication for Covid-19.
Interim clinical trials have indicated it has the potential to halve both hospitalisations and deaths from the virus.
"We are now working on a purchasing agreement with Merck that is expected to be completed by this week ... we have pre-booked 200,000 courses," Dr Somsak said.
He said the pills could arrive as soon as December, though the deal would be subject to the pills' approval by both the United States Food and Drug Administration and its Thai equivalent.
The US company expects to produce 10 million courses of the treatment by the end of 2021 and has agreed a deal with the US government to supply 1.7 million courses at a price of $700 (about 23,600 baht) per course.
However, officials have also said there will be tiered approach to pricing based on country income criteria.
According to a report in The New York Times, the Merck anti-viral drug is meant to be taken as four capsules twice a day for five days -- a total of 40 pills over the course of treatment.
After such promising early trials, Merck and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP said on Friday that it would now, in conjunction with the US Food and Drug Administration and foreign regulatory bodies, begin the process of gaining worldwide clearance for its use.
Meanwhile, the Public Health Ministry plans to administer six million Covid-19 vaccine doses to children aged 3-11 years old next year, with the Thai Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expected to approve the use of some vaccines for children under 12 soon, he said.
Department of Disease Control director-general Opas Karnkawinpong said on Monday the ministry plans to administer 86 million doses by the end of next year, 6 million of which will be in the youngest age group.
A further 14 million will be administered as second shots, and 66 million given as third boosters, Dr Opas said.
The new target which was set as a nationwide campaign got underway to administer the Pfizer vaccine to students aged 12-18 years old.
The drive will initially focus on the worst-hit areas, which include Bangkok and its vicinity.
Dr Opas said teenage female students would definitely receive two doses, although second doses for boys were still under discussion after recent links to more serious effects from mRNA vaccines among young males.
"The vaccine is safe for students. Its use has been approved by the FDA and the World Health Organization," he said.
Thailand logged 9,930 new Covid-19 cases and 97 more fatalities during the previous 24 hours, the Public Health Ministry announced on Monday.
There were 9,568 cases in the general population and 362 among prison inmates.
Although new cases in the country dropped below 10,000 again and deaths numbered fewer than 100, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) reiterated concerns about the situation in southern provinces.
While the capital led new infections with 1,137, Yala again came second with 764, a slight decrease from the 783 announced on Sunday, and five of the top 10 provinces in the list were in the southern region, including 484 in Songkhla, 406 in Pattani, 314 in Narathiwat and 313 in Nakhon Si Thammarat.
CCSA assistant spokeswoman Apisamai Srirungson said the virus had spread from factory clusters to into workers' homes.
"Those infected in factories have started to take the virus to their families," she said.
Government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said on Monday that the first batch of 2 million antigen test kit sets would go on sale at eight Government Pharmaceutical Organization pharmacies in in the capital starting from Oct 18.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... covid-pill
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Re: Covid pill?
These anti-Covid pills are basically anti viral medications similar to what HIV patients are given. It's brilliant that we have this option of medicines these days, and its a shame they weren't about in the modern 80s when HIV first appeared. This generation is exceptionally lucky that we have this option and in the space of less than 2 years we have come up with highly effective medicine.