Merck Surges as Covid Pill Looks to Ease Hospital Strains

" The drug, known as molnupiravir, reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by 50% in an interim analysis of a late-stage clinical trial [...] Pill would offer at-home treatment option for Covid patients [...] Merck and Ridgeback’s findings came out of a previously planned analysis of 775 patients who had been in the clinical trial since at least early August.

The companies said 7.3% of patients who received molnupiravir were either hospitalized or died through 29 days, compared with 14.1% who received a placebo. Through 29 days, none of the participants taking molnupiravir died, compared with eight deaths in the placebo group. "