COVID-19 antiviral pill molnupiravir to be rolled out in Philippines in November

Merck & Co’s experimental antiviral pill molnupiravir will be rolled out in the Philippines by November through hospitals with compassionate special permits (CSPs), Filipino company MedEthix said Wednesday.

In a press conference, MedEthix co-founder Monaliza Salian said the volume of order placed with their supplier will cover 300,000 COVID-19-positive patients.

“A breakthrough drug is coming as MedEthix will launch the first molnupiravir in the country within November, and that’s already next month,” Salian said.

According to Salian, hospitals with CSPs will prescribe the pill to patients as molnupiravir has yet to be given an emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration.

“The CSP applicant doctors or the associations, the hospitals, will dispense molnupiravir to the patients with the description. So we will just confine ourselves with whatever is the requirements of the FDA,” she said.

Pharmaceutical company JackPharma Inc. president Meny Hernandez said molnupiravir will be taken twice a day for five days or as prescribed by the physician.

According to Hernandez, they estimate that the cost of molnupiravir will be around P130 to 150 each capsule.

“I would estimate… it’s probably anywhere between, on the market itself, hopefully, it will be somewhere in the vicinity of a P130 per pill,” he said.

A health expert previously said molnupiravir may be taken orally once exposed to COVID-19 as it decreases by half the chances of mild cases from becoming severe as well as the chances of exposed individuals from acquiring the illness.

MedEthix was appointed to import molnupiravir under the brand name Molnaflu in the country by Aurobindo, a company that entered into a licensing agreement with Merck.

It then partnered with JackPharma to increase the reach of the pill to hospitals and medical institutions in compliance with the CSP requirements of the FDA.

EUA application

Salian said MedEthix has applied for an EUA in the Philippines.

“Actually, we already made the application but, of course, we just pre-empted in a way FDA that we are applying… Normally, companies like us will only act after getting the publication of the FDA,” she said.

“We already initiated to have an application under an EUA which we applied yesterday. We are yet to receive any feedback from them on either they will consider it or not,” she added.

Meanwhile, Hernandez said they will be watching out for adverse events.

“On our part, with JackPharma as well as MedEthix, we do have a hotline that we are also providing to our doctors so that if there are any kinds of adverse events, we will be able to record them,” he said.

A welcome development

Interviewed at the Laging Handa public briefing, vaccine expert panel member and infectious disease expert Dr. Rontgene Solante said the rollout of molnupiravir is a welcome development in the country.

"The feedback is significant in terms of acceptance, especially from doctors right now because data from molnupiravir showed that it can prevent mild to moderate [cases] from developing into severe infection," Solante said.

"This will be an important drug moving forward, especially when [given to] those high-risk population, those with comorbidities, 60 years old and above, or even malignancy, they will not develop a severe infection," Solante added.

Effective against Delta?

When asked if the pill is effective on individuals who tested positive for the Delta variant of the coronavirus, Hernandez said results saw that the pill worked.

“In the clinical studies conducted by Aurobindo, they were not differentiated on the kind of viruses or variants of COVID-19, but we saw that some of the results that are provided to us by MSD saw it working,” he said.

“It appears from the excerpts shown… that it does work on the different variants,” he added.

The Philippines on Monday reported 4,393 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the nationwide tally to 2,765,672 and active cases to 53,642. —with Jamil Santos/KG/BM, GMA News