Loading ...Canada – spends up to $450M on new COVID drug outperformed by placebo in some trials
Some experts — and now another nation that also ordered large amounts of the drug — say Molnupiravir may be less mythical hammer than flimsy fly swatter
“A new analysis by British scientists argues the main finding in Merck’s phase 3 trial — a modest 30-per-cent reduction in hospitalizations among patients given the pills relatively early on — was actually not statistically significant. The fact the second half of that trial found better outcomes for patients getting a placebo is also raising questions. Patient-level databases that could be checked for “the risk of bias or medical fraud” have not been released, says the U.K. paper .
Meanwhile, two Indian trials of generic versions of Molnupiravir were stopped because they found no benefit for patients. A third that did conclude it was effective has yet to have its findings published in a peer-reviewed journal.|