Game Changing Made-In-India Anti-Covid Pills Could Be Cleared For Use In Days

The medicine is meant for adults who are at risk for progressing to severe COVID-19 or hospitalization.

Emergency Use Authorisation for the Merck drug Molnupiravir -- an oral antiviral medicine for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 -- is likely "within days", Dr Ram Vishwakarma, Chairman of the Covid Strategy Group, CSIR, told NDTV today. The medicine is meant for adults who are at risk for progressing to severe COVID-19 or hospitalization. Another pill from Pfizer, Paxlovid, may take some more time, he added.  

The two drugs, he said, will make a difference and "as we move from pandemic to endemic, these are the ones which are going to be more important than vaccination".

Calling the drugs the "final nail in the coffin of the virus by science", he said, "I think Molnupiravir will be already available to us. Five companies are sitting with the drug manufacturer... I think any day we will have approval of Molnupiravir".

Data for Molnupiravir has been "sitting with the regulator" here before the UK regulator's approval, he said. "So already SECs are looking at it. And I think they will they will get faster approval now. And therefore, it would it be safe to say that within the next one month, there would be a decision on approval for the Merck drug".