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Merck, an American pharmaceutical company, has applied to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for emergency use of an edible corona treatment. Following the vaccine, it is expected that it will be another milestone in the Corona response.
Correspondent Yunsu Kim from Washington.
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American pharmaceutical company Merck announced that it has applied to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and FDA for emergency use of molnupiravir, an oral treatment for COVID-19.
Earlier, Merck disclosed the results of a clinical trial showing that molnupiravir cut the hospitalization rate and mortality rate of COVID-19 patients by half.
[Reiner/Professor George Washington University of Medicine: If you prescribe this to patients and take it for five days, you can treat it at home without having to go to the hospital for an intravenous injection. This is really hopeful news.] The
cost of one
serving of
four capsules twice a day for five days is about $700, which is not a small amount, but it is only one-third of the injection-type treatment.
Merck plans to produce 10 million units by the end of this year, and pre-orders are continuing in line.
The U.S. government pre-purchased supplies for 1.7 million people, and it is known that South Korea also signed a contract for 20,000 people.
If the vaccine for children and even an edible treatment are approved, there is a forecast that the delta mutation epidemic in the United States will end by the end of next month.
[Gottlieb/Former FDA Commissioner: Considering when the delta mutation epidemic sweeping across the United States will end, I think it will probably be around Thanksgiving Day.]
Pfizer and Roche are also planning to release edible corona treatment drugs soon, so expectations are growing that another milestone will occur in response to COVID-19 following the vaccine.