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Merck/Ridgeback’s Lagevrio Could Get Another Chance As Others Face Limitations

New Analysis Shows No COVID-19 At Days 3 Or 5

 
• By Alaric DeArment

New data for molnupiravir could mean new commercial life for Merck and Ridgeback’s oral COVID-19 therapy, which had fallen behind due to the outstanding efficacy for Pfizer’s Paxlovid.

Merck & Co. and Ridgeback are presenting a new analysis at ECCMID for Lagevrio in COVID-19 • Source: Alamy

Merck & Co., Inc. and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP have a new efficacy analysis of their oral COVID-19 treatment Lagevrio (molnupiravir) that, combined with the changing conditions of the pandemic, including the lack of effectiveness of several monoclonal antibodies against Omicron and the BA.2 strain and drug interactions with Pfizer’s Paxlovid, could help with Lagevrio’s lagging commercial uptake.

Merck and Ridgeback said 1 April that they would present additional analyses of the Phase III MOVe-OUT trial at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID), including final data on virologic outcomes in non-hospitalized patients at

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