WHO backs Merck/Ridgeback's pill molnupiravir for certain COVID-19 patients

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• The World Health Organization in its updated guidelines have included conditional recommendation for Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK) and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics' COVID-19 pill molnupiravir.
• The WHO said it the first oral antiviral drug to be included in the treatment guidelines for COVID-19.
• The agency said that since the drug is new there is little safety data for it. Thus molnupiravir should be provided only to non-severe COVID-19 patients with the highest risk of hospitalization. These are typically people who have not received a COVID-19 vaccination, older people, people with immunodeficiencies and people living with chronic diseases.
• The WHO noted that children, pregnant and breastfeeding women should not be given the drug. People who take molnupiravir should have a contraceptive plan.
• The recommendation was backed by new data from six trials involving 4796 patients, which is the largest dataset on this drug so far.