The image is by Alex Castro.
The FDA approved a second at- home pill to treat COVID-19 on Thursday. The clearance for the drug came a day after the agency signed off on Pfizer's Paxlovid. The drugs reduce the risk of hospitalization and death in people with COVID-19 who are at risk of having a severe case of the disease.
If you are over the age of 18 and are at a high risk of contracting the coronaviruses, you can get molnupiravir. Paxlovid is cleared for people 12 and up, but molnupiravir is not, according to the FDA.
Patients have to start taking the drug within a few days of developing symptoms in order for it to be the most effective. In the United States, testing to confirm someone has COVID-19 is often slow and limited, particularly during a surge in case numbers.
The risk of hospitalization and death was cut in a clinical trial by half. It was only around 30 percent effective. Paxlovid reduced hospitalizations and deaths for high-risk groups by 89 percent in a clinical trial.
The US may be reliant on molnupiravir in the near future, despite its lower efficacy, as the Biden administration expects 3 million courses of the drug to be available by the end of January. The federal government started giving courses to states.
