Merck’s Experimental COVID-19 Treatment Pill Could Deal Blow to mRNA Vaccines
Posted on 10/01/2021
Pharma giant Merck & Co., Inc. revealed an experimental pill it developed to treat COVID-19 reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by nearly half in a clinical trial. The clinical trial is being stopped early and Merck is applying for emergency use authorization as soon as possible. The pill is called molnupiravir and was developed by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. It would be the first oral medication to treat the coronavirus if authorized by U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). Interestingly, Merck is also the company that manufactures Ivermectin, a popular alternative treatment of COVID-19 for those people who do not want the COVID mRNA shots or people in countries who do not have access to the Moderna or Pfizer mRNA COVID shots. Ivermectin has been used to treat COVID in countries such as India, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, parts of Africa, etc. U.S. government health officials, along with U.S. media have widely condemned the usage of Ivermectin to help treat COVID-19 and use the argument of calling it a horse dewormer not suitable for humans.
The FDA website as of October 1, 2021, says “The FDA has not authorized or approved ivermectin for use in preventing or treating COVID-19 in humans or animals. Ivermectin is approved for human use to treat infections caused by some parasitic worms and head lice and skin conditions like rosacea.”
Merck believes the anti-viral pill can reduce the risk of hospitalization and death by nearly half in a clinical trial. Monoclonal antibodies are the current therapy used to keep people out of hospitals who have COVID. Monoclonal antibodies work as a therapy, but are harder to manufacture versus a pill. Studies have shown that Regeneron’s combination of two monoclonal antibodies lowered the risk of COVID-19–associated hospitalization and death from any cause by 71%. REGEN-COV resolved symptoms and reduced SARS-CoV-2 viral load faster than a placebo, a phase 3 clinical trial finds, according to the New England Journal of Medicine. In November 2020, the FDA granted emergency use authorization to REGEN-COV.
Using Presidential Executive Power
This is in the backdrop of the Biden administration using an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) law to force private companies to have employees get vaccinated with the mRNA COVID shots. However, the threat of OSHA has already prompted large employers to mandate the COVID shots. OSHA was created for work-related hazards. To justify an emergency temporary standard, OSHA must determine that “employees are exposed to grave danger from exposure to substances or agents determined to be toxic or physically harmful or from new hazards,” and it must conclude that “such emergency standard is necessary to protect employees from such danger.” This controversial use of an administrative law will likely be challenged in the court system similar to when CDC regulated the relationship between landlord and renter. The CDC moratorium law was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. However, Biden’s strategy appears to be working as companies are already acting early on mandating COVID shots by the time lawsuits reach the Supreme Court. Last, tucked in House Speaker Pelosi’s bill is a tenfold increase in employer fines that could be up to US$ 700,000 for willful or repeated violations.
