The pharmaceutical company Merck says they have developed a new antiviral drug that is effective in treating Coronavirus infection. Politico. Molnupiavir is the name of the drug and in a clinical trial it caused a 50% decrease of severe cases of Coronavirus infection that required hospitalization. None of the people in the experimental group, which was chosen from highly vulnerable people, died, while several did in the control group. The drug would be a breakthrough as there is no currently accepted pill that can be taken during the early stages of the infection. Most treatments for the virus are used in the late stage of infections. Side effects were mild and close to what was found with placebos. Merck is seeking emergency authorization in the United States and elsewhere.
My Comment:
I have mixed feelings on this. On the one had I don't really believe that there aren't effective pills to counter the Coronavirus. Both Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin have shown some promise of filling the role that Molnupiavir would play but those two drugs have been so highly politicized it is impossible to know for sure how effective they are. (I personally think that Ivermectin is not effective in treating the virus but it is very good at killing parasites, which probably saved lives in India indirectly as coinfection with parasites probably was killing a large number of people there).
On the other hand having an effective treatment would take the wind out of the sales of the disturbing and growing ever more unhinged "vaccinate everyone" crowd. If an effective and safe treatment is found then there is no reason to vaccinate everyone as both the vaccinated and unvaccinated can simply take the drug instead. Indeed, I understand that the stocks for Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson tanked on the news. Such a pill would cut the justification over the extreme assault on civil rights we are seeing right now in this country and throughout the world. We might still see them but at that point the powers that be would have to stop pretending that it was ever about the Coronavirus and the pushback could begin in earnest.
I do worry about side effects though. They said the side effects for this pill are mild but that's also what they said with the vaccines and that didn't turn out right. With research being rushed I worry about possible long term side effects and other problems down the line. Still, given that the drug would only be given to people who have Coronavirus, which has it's own questions about long term effects, I think it is probably worth it to authorize this drug.
Another problem is that people are going to be suspicious of this drug. The medical community has pissed away pretty much all of their credibility during this pandemic. It seems to me, as a blue collar, flyover state white male, that the people in the medical industry hate me and unironically want me to die for my political beliefs and even the color of my skin. I don't think that these people have my best interests at heart and do not care about anything other than profit. I'd probably still take this drug if I got a breakthrough case but I totally understand why people no longer trust the big medical companies anymore.
On the other side of the coin I feel like the "vaccinate at all costs" people are going to hate this drug and will try to discredit it the same way they did Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin. Even if Merck's clinical study showed an improvement, there will be other studies funded by the other big companies that will be designed in a way to prove just the opposite and soon the mass media will be calling Molnupiravir some equivalent to "fish tank cleaner" or "horse dewormer" instead of "incredibly safe malaria drug" and "miracle anti-parasite drug". The big pharmaceutical companies have an obvious incentive to do so but I think there are members of the general public that are so mind killed over the vaccines that they would do so for free.
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