Coronavirus infections are rising in Denmark, as in many parts of the world. As a result, the Danish government and parliament are currently planning to spend 450 million Danish kroner on two new COVID-19 treatments, according to the newspaper Politiken, which obtained a document from the Ministry of Health addressed to the Finance Committee of the Danish Parliament.
The two new treatments are pills taken as a treatment for the coronavirus and are the first of their kind. They are two new treatments developed by Pfizer and Merck.
The Ministry of Health stated in the document that despite the high vaccination rate in Denmark, there are still Danes who contract COVID-19 and are hospitalized, which the pills will be able to prevent. According to the Ministry: “There are currently two oral medications under development from Pfizer (the drug is called Paxlovid) and Merck (the drug is called Lagevrio/molnupiravir), which have shown good results in clinical trials.”.
Camilla Vogde, a professor at the University of Copenhagen and a researcher in vaccine design and distribution, commented that the COVID-19 pills were developed based on medical knowledge about HIV, where the same approach is used in pharmaceutical materials: one substance is used to inhibit the virus and another substance is used to delay the breakdown of the other pharmaceutical material.
Currently, COVID-19 patients are being treated with antibodies, but according to Camilla Vogde, this treatment is expensive, so it makes sense to invest in the treatment.
Significant clinical results
According to Reuters, data shows that the pills from Merck can halve the risk of illness or death from COVID-19 for people in high-risk groups if the infected person receives the drug early in the course of the disease. This exceeds expectations regarding what the drug can achieve, which was considered a major impact in clinical trials, according to Merck's vice president.
Pfizer also tested its pills in a study of the drug's effect on 607 people, 6 of whom were hospitalized and none of whom died.
At the same time, they gave a pill with no effect - the so-called placebo pill - to 612 people, 41 of whom were taken to the hospital and 10 of whom died.
People receiving treatment should take the pills for a period of three to five days.
Merck's pills have been approved by the UK, and both Pfizer and Merck have requested emergency approval for their drugs from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Biden administration has already paid for millions of Covid-19 pills.
Pfizer announced in early November that it was in talks with 90 countries about its new Corona pills, and on Wednesday the company said it would launch the Corona pills to 95 countries, which is just over half the world's population.
Britain was the first country in the world to approve the Merck deal in early November.
The UK Medicines Agency recommends the use of the pills for people with mild to moderate symptoms of COVID-19 who are at risk of becoming seriously ill with the virus.
Source: TV2
