Was the vote difficult?
There were a lot of members of the advisory committee who described that they had a hard time voting. That was because they had to keep in mind the fact that although it might be risky to take pills against Covid-19, it can also be beneficial.
Moreover, several members of the committee said that Merck’s emergency use authorization should be reviewed and even revoked if a better treatment becomes accessible later on.
Dr. Michael Green, a pediatric transplant specialist at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases, said that it was a very difficult decision to make.
Furthermore, the doctor stated that there are not that many convenient therapies that can treat high-risk patients infected with Covid-19, so he decided to vote for Merck’s emergency appliance.
However, Dr. Michael Green suggested that these medications should be limited to people who are not vaccinated but are at risk for developing severe SARS-CoV-2 symptoms.
On the other hand, Dr. Sankar Swaminathan, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Utah School of Medicine, decided to vote against the new pill, saying that its effectiveness was “modest at best”. In addition to that, he stated the fact he is concerned that this drug can affect humans’ DNA, which is not well-known, as he believes.
Can Covid-19 pills affect pregnant women?
In the beginning, Merck said that the pill was more than 50% powerful in avoiding hospitalizations and deaths, but more recent data provided to the FDA revealed that the drug is just 30% effective.
Both Merck and the FDA have said that this new medicine should not be used on children and women who are pregnant. According to a study, it has been found that Molnupiravir is actually harmful to pregnant rats’ embryos. Besides that, this can also cause birth problems and can reduce fetal body weight.
In addition to that, the same pill causes issues that mingled with bone growth in young puppies, besides other problems. The Molnupiravir drug is prompting the part of Covid-19 that is responsible for the virus to mutate and spread.
On the other hand, there were a few doctors who were concerned about the fact that this pill will draw the virus to mutate in a way that will make treatments and vaccines less efficient.
