A CEO of the pharmaceutical company Merck, which has developed the first antiviral pill for the coronavirus, openly expressed doubts about the corresponding drug of the competitor Pfizer, which appeared shortly after, saying that the latter will cause problems in some patients who take other medicines for other ailments.
Eliav Barr, Merck's senior vice president, told the Financial Times that both antiviral pills are needed to protect people from the coronavirus. But at the same time, he turned his arrows against the competing pill, saying that some patients would not be able to take it because of its possible side effects in other treatments that follow.
A requirement for the Pfizer antiviral pill to be taken with the ritonavir antiviral drug means, according to Barr, that the antiviral coronary pill would not be suitable for many people with other pre-existing conditions for which are being treated with medication, which may be prevented by the concomitant use of ritonavir.
As Barr said, “ritonavir, which has been used to treat HIV for many years, is a drug that specifically inhibits the body's ability to break down drugs. The problem is that this is happening in an incredibly unskilled way. "There is a whole army of drugs that people are taking, especially drugs that are unfortunately associated with dangerous diseases."
A study published in the scientific journal Nature last week found an "extremely high frequency" of drug interactions in hospitalized Spanish patients with Covid-19, who were taking the antiviral drug lopinavir together with ritonavir.
However, according to Pfizer, ritonavir has a good safety "profile" when used alone or in combination with other drugs. The company assured that if it causes interactions with other drugs, they can be treated in many cases, usually by adjusting the dosage of other patients' drugs for the five days that the antiviral pill will last. After completing treatment against Covid-19, patients will return to the normal dose of their other medications.
On the other hand, Merck - who did not develop a coronavirus vaccine and "bets" a lot on her pill - highlighted the safety "profile" of her own antiviral pill molnupiravir, which is being examined by the US Food and Drug Administration ( FDA) to get marketing approval. Last week, an FDA external advisory committee gave a small majority (13-10) to give the green light to the pill. However, some scientists on the committee have expressed concerns about its effectiveness and safety, especially in pregnant women.
If the FDA approves Merck's pill, the US government has signed an agreement to buy 3,1 million treatments for $ 2,2 billion. However, the company's shares have lost 17% in the stock market compared to the previous month, after the publication of data showed that Pflovid Paxlovid antiviral pill (which is taken together with ritonavir) is more effective than Merck molnupiravir to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease or death.
The final results of the clinical trial of Merck antiviral pill showed that it is 30% effective (and not 50% as shown in the preliminary results in October) in reducing the risk of hospitalization or death from Covid-19. Barr, however, noted that many governments - except the United States - have already expressed interest in buying her new antiviral pill.