<Anchor> The
Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has entered the approval process for an edible corona treatment by Merck of the United States. Approval is expected within this year at the earliest, but the actual prescription is expected early next year.
Reporter Park Chan-geun on the sidewalk.
<Reporter> The
Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has entered the emergency use approval process for 'Laguebrio', an edible drug manufactured by Merck in the United States.
It is a drug known under the ingredient name 'molnupiravir'.
In a clinical trial, patients with mild symptoms within 5 days of being confirmed in clinical trials took 4 tablets twice a day, all for 5 days.
The chances of hospitalization and death have since been cut in half.
[Moon Eun-hee / Head of Drug Policy Division, Ministry of Food and Drug Safety: Until now, only injections were approved, but when oral medicines become available, we expect to be able to select various and suitable treatments for different situations.] If
emergency use approval is granted within this year, next year 1 From February, 404,000 people will be introduced.
The quarantine authorities are planning to provide priority to high-risk groups such as the elderly 65 years of age or older or those with underlying diseases.
Pfizer's Paxrovid has been shown to reduce hospitalization and death rates by 89% in clinical trials.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced that it has entered into a preliminary review of 'Pax Lovid' by looking at the data in advance.
The quarantine authorities have also advanced the interval between booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The elderly over 60 years of age, users and workers of nursing homes and facilities, and workers at medical institutions are given the booster vaccine after 4 months, and those in their 50s, the general public, military police, and fire officials, etc.