What are antiviral COVID-19 pills and how could they help?

Public health experts have described the implementation of antiviral pills as potentially game-changing in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The United Kingdom on Thursday became the first country in the world to approve an orally ingested COVID-19 antiviral pill, developed by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics.

On Friday, COVID-19 vaccine maker Pfizer unveiled promising results on their experimental pill, claiming that it could cut rates of hospitalization and death from the virus by nearly 90 per cent.

Public health experts have described the implementation of the anti-viral pills as potentially game-changing in the fight against the pandemic, citing both their effectiveness in preventing severe disease and death as well as their low cost to produce.

Here’s what you need to know about the anti-viral COVID-19 pills.

The antiviral drugs have intrigued health experts and epidemiologists in how they specifically target parts of the virus’ genetic code.

In the case of Merck’s molnupiravir, the drug, once ingested, targets an enzyme used by the coronavirus to reproduce itself.

When the coronavirus’ RNA begins to replicate within a cell, it would mistakenly pick up the drug and incorporate it into the RNA chain.

The drug would then insert errors into the virus’ genetic code — slowing its ability to spread and take over human cells.