States are not obliged to follow this recommendation. In France, the HAS did not grant authorization for this treatment last December.
Article written by
Posted
Update
Reading time : 1 min.
Molnupiravir, an anti-Covid pill from the American laboratory Merck, is still the subject of very contrasting opinions. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommended its use as a treatment for certain patients on Thursday March 3: people at high risk of hospitalization, but not yet severely affected by Covid-19.
The profiles of patients most at risk listed by the WHO in its press release (in English) are those who have not been vaccinated against Covid-19, the elderly, the immunocompromised and the chronically ill. However, the organization believes that this treatment should be prohibited for young and healthy patients, children and pregnant women.
Administered in the form of tablets, molnupiravir must be taken as soon as possible after infection, within five days of the onset of symptoms, recalls the WHO.
The WHO’s international expert panel bases its decision on new data from six trials in a total of nearly 4,800 patients, the most detailed available to date. They show that molnupiravir reduces the risk of hospital admission (43 fewer admissions per 1,000 high-risk patients) and the time to resolution of symptoms (on average 3.4 days less). They are less definitive regarding the effect on mortality (6 fewer deaths per 1,000 patients).
In France, the High Health Authority refused in December to grant early authorization for molnupiravir, not considering it effective enough, when 50,000 doses had nevertheless been ordered by the health authorities. She is not forced to apply the new WHO treatment recommendation from Merck, which also raises more concerns about side effects than the other anti-Covid pill on the market, paxlovid from Pfizer.