Merck's COVID-19 pill significantly less effective in new analysis

[PSPS]

Source: KSL

WASHINGTON — Merck & Co said on Friday updated data from its study of its experimental COVID-19 pill showed the drug was significantly less effective in cutting hospitalizations and deaths than previously reported. The drugmaker said its pill showed a 30% reduction in hospitalizations and deaths, based on data from 1,433 patients. In October, its data showed a roughly 50% efficacy, based on data from 775 patients. The drug, molnupiravir, was developed with partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics.

The lower efficacy of Merck's drug could have big implications in terms of whether countries continue to buy the pill. Interim data from 1,200 participants in Pfizer Inc's trial for its experimental pill, Paxlovid, showed an 89% reduction in hospitalizations and deaths.

-- snip --

Merck released the data before the U.S Food and Drug Administration published a set of documents on Friday intended to brief a panel of outside experts who will meet on Tuesday to discuss whether to recommend authorizing the pill.

Read more: https://www.ksl.com/article/50292040/mercks-covid-19-pill-significantly-less-effective-in-new-analysis

[orleans]

1. merck's 30% vs. pfizer's 89%? no comparison. nt

[Sapient Donkey]

2. Bummer

[Tommymac]

3. Back to the drawing board, Merk.

I HATE that we as a species are beholden to these criminal Big Pharm companies. (I know them well having worked in the belly of the beast at one of the top players for over a decade. They DID kill the bees.)

But that said, Covid gives us little choice right now. I hope after this virus is finally brought to heel that world governments evaluate things and set up and fund a non-profit, non-political all inclusive Science based GLOBAL research group to specifically develop vaccines for pandemic type bugs.

Yeah, I'm a liberal, so I want a Unicorn and rainbows too.

Seriously, WE CAN DO IT. But I'm sure the will is not there - yet.

[moriah]

5. I'm hoping that Biden's push for "intellectual property" to be considered "community property"...

... helps either make Big Pharma actually justify how much taxpayer money they eat (I'm on Medicare, I see what they charge my program and my copay grant for my inhalers), or helps us rethink how much of a "patent" should be on other healthcare discoveries.

I think I recall that at least one, if not both, makers of these two pills had been willing to relinquish patents so their pills could be distributed worldwide. I hope it's the better one.

Either way, COVID may be the push world governments need to know they have to work together on at least *some* things, and for our government to push our own Big Pharmas to use all the money we give to reward them for research that benefits all of humanity theoretically to make it benefit everyone in fact as well. As humanity continues to expand and concentrate, more viruses will emerge. We clearly can't fight them with isolationism and profit-making as our governing philosophies.

[Pantagruel]

4. IIRC , Pfizer is the one Big Pharma

not to take Trump's offer of subsidies to develop CV-19 vax and therapy.
Yet seemingly, they did the best work.

[cadoman]

6. I am not a scientist -- but this HHS doc indicates that's partially incorrect

https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/pfizer-inc-covid-19-vaccine-contract.pdf

See page 3 for the part that seems to match what you state:

"Pfizer and BioNTech have already made substantial progress, outside this Statement of Work and
without use of any Government funding, towards the demonstration of technical and
manufacturing feasibility, including through the initiation of Phase 1/2 studies evaluating the
likelihood of safety, tolerability and inununogenicity in the US and in Germany"

But then on page 1:

"The total approved cost to the Government for this effort is not to exceed $1,950,097,500.00. The
break-out of the costs is as follows: $1,950,000,000.00 to perform project efforts included in the SOW
and $97,500.00 for the Consortium Management Firm (CMF) Administrative Cost."

So apparently they had prior work done on this and then OWS kicked in that last $1.95 billion to get them over the finish line.

But again, I am not a scientist or accredited in any way as being qualified to read or understand a document such as this. An accredited journalist would be best qualified to offer a correct summary here.