This analysis of a large randomized trial involving people who are at high risk of experiencing severe outcomes from COVID-19 and who had been vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 infection found that adding molnupiravir to usual care did not reduce hospital admissions or deaths (which were low in both treatment groups).

However, participants in the group that received molnupiravir in addition to usual care recovered faster and had a higher rate of sustained recovery compared to those who only received usual care.

They also had fewer visits to their general practitioners.

This faster recovery was consistent with a reduction in the detection of virus and viral load in the molnupiravir group compared to the usual care group.

No patient subgroup was found in which molnupiravir was associated with a lower risk of hospital admission, and the benefits in terms of time to first self-reported recovery were evenly distributed across subgroups.

The trial recorded few serious adverse events, and none that were definitely related to molnupiravir.

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