BENGALURU — Two Indian drugmakers have requested permission to end late-stage trials of their generic versions of Merck & Co’s promising experimental oral antiviral drug molnupiravir to treat moderate COVID-19, a week after Merck said its own trial had succeeded for mild-to-moderate patients. Merck spokesperson Melissa Moody said Merck and the Indian companies had defined “moderate” disease differently. The trials in India define moderate COVID-19 blood oxygen levels as 90% to 93%, according to the trial documents for the two companies. The Indian drug regulator’s committee also disclosed on its website that Aurobindo and MSN had presented interim clinical trial data for moderate COVID-19 patients and asked to end the trials. Hetero is separately conducting a study on moderate COVID-19 patients and has said those results will be presented at a future date.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer October 08, 2021 21:11 UTC