Merck is ready to seek authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for the first anti-viral pill. If taken early, then it can reduce hospitalizations and deaths by 50 percent. While the monoclonal antibodies are more effective with a 75% to 80% risk reduction of hospitalizations and deaths, the antibodies are three times as expensive at $2100 , must be administered intravenously and are labor intensive. This new medication by Merck is taken as four pills twice a day. The trials were so convincing that the FDA encouraged them to end the trial earlier. They showed no significant side effects compared to a placebo. Many more people would be able to take it in comparison to the monoclonal antibodies. This adds a great weapon to the fight against the novel coronavirus . We began fighting the virus with mitigation measures including social distancing and masks, then we added safe and effective vaccines to prevent it from being caught and/or minimizing the effects of the virus if it is caught , next we added the monoclonal antibodies which are very effective if given early on as a treatment for patients who have already caught the virus, and now we have the first antiviral pills which are effective as a treatment to prevent hospitalizations and deaths if given early on when the virus is first caught. Both the antibodies and the antiviral pills need an early diagnosis to be effective. This means that we need patients who may have it to get tested early on.
www.nytimes.com/…
How the anti-vaxxer / COVID deniers will respond to this is unknown obviously.