Medicines’ regulator SAHPRA has granted drug-maker MSD emergency authorisation to import its coronavirus pill molnupiravir, the first treatment that high-risk patients can potentially take at home.
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has given MSD permission to import 8m capsules over the next six months, enough to treat 200,000 patients, says CEO Boitumelo Semete.
Sahpra’s authorisation includes the condition that molnupiravir should not be used during pregnancy, and women of child-bearing age should use contraception during treatment and for four days after they take the last pill. Treatment consists of 40 pills taken over five days.
Business Day reports that the national Health Department said it would not be ordering the medication for government patients.
Initially, the drug was initially hailed as a possible game-changer, as all other treatments available in SA require intravenous administration and have to be used in hospital. But a review commissioned by the DOH advised against using molnupiravir. While it provided a modest reduction in the risk of hospital admissions and death from COVID-19 in high-risk patients, having to use it within five days of symptom onset limited its feasibility.
“The evaluation showed it is not significantly better than how we treat COVID now,” said health department deputy director-general Nicholas Crisp.
BusinessLIVE article – Regulator approves emergency use of MSD’s Covid-19 pill (Open access)
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