Health Authorities to Introduce 100,000 Doses of Oral Antiviral 'Lagevrio' This Week

Scheduled Introduction of 95,000 Paxlovid Doses in April

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] This week, 100,000 doses of Merck & Company's (MSD) oral COVID-19 treatment, Molnupiravir (product name Lagevrio), will be introduced.

Jeon Hae-cheol, the 2nd Deputy Head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety), stated at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting at the Government Seoul Office on the morning of the 21st, "Considering the recent increase in confirmed cases and the resulting significant expansion in demand for oral treatments, in addition to the 95,000 doses of Paxlovid scheduled for introduction in April, we are pushing for additional early procurement. We will begin introducing 100,000 doses of Merck's treatment Lagevrio starting this week."

Previously, the government completed a pre-purchase contract to import 242,000 doses of Molnupiravir from MSD. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety began an emergency use approval review for this drug on November 17 last year, but approval was withheld after clinical trials showed that its effect in preventing hospitalization and death in high-risk mild to moderate patients was about 30%. In comparison, Pfizer's Paxlovid has an 88% effectiveness in preventing hospitalization and death.

However, Molnupiravir has fewer contraindicated drugs for co-administration compared to Paxlovid, and does not require food intake restrictions or dose adjustments for renal or hepatic impairment. Except for leukemia treatments containing cladribine, no drugs have been identified that should not be co-administered. However, administration is restricted for those under 18 years old and women of childbearing age.

With the rapid increase in confirmed cases due to the spread of Omicron, concerns about shortages of oral treatments continue to be raised. The government's pre-purchase quantity of Paxlovid is 762,000 doses, of which 163,000 doses have been imported to date. As of the 17th, the cumulative usage was 74,514 doses, and the total stock was 88,276 doses. For this reason, it is interpreted that the government is trying to secure other products besides Paxlovid.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.