According to WHO´s updated living guidelines on Covid-19 therapeutics published on Wednesday in the British Medical Journal, Molnupiravir acts by preventing coronavirus from replicating and proved its effectiveness against the Delta and Omicron variants in lab studies.

In addition, WHO´s panel of international experts, who examined data from six randomized controlled clinical trials involving 4796 patients, found that Molnupiravir helps to reduce the risk of hospital admission and recovery time.

Studies found that Molnupiravir nearly halved the risk of hospital admission in non-severe Covid-19 patients. Patients taking Molnupiravir were also likely to have symptom resolution about three days earlier than those not taking Molnupiravir.

Who´s experts urged that Molnupiravir to be taken as soon as possible after symptoms begin or after a positive test for SASR-CoV-2.

Because of these concerns and data gaps, molnupiravir should be provided only to non-severe Covid-19 patients with the highest risk of hospitalization. These are typically people who have not received a Covid-19 vaccination, older people, people with immunodeficiencies and people living with chronic diseases.

Given this situation, the WHO scientific stressed children, and pregnant and breastfeeding women should not be given the drug. People who take molnupiravir should have a contraceptive plan, and health systems should ensure access to pregnancy testing and contraceptives at the point of care.

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