Preliminary Phase IIa trial results of molnupiravir in COVID-19

US pharma giant Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) and privately-held biotech Ridgeback Biotherapeutics today announced encouraging preliminary results from Ridgeback’s Phase IIa randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and efficacy to eliminate SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA of molnupiravir (EIDD-2801/MK-4482), an investigational oral antiviral agent.

The companies, which entered into a collaboration on the drug in May last year, over the weekend reported findings on one secondary objective from the Phase IIa study, showing a reduction in time (days) to negativity of infectious virus isolation in nasopharyngeal swabs from participants with symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, as determined by isolation in Vero cell line culture.