Hetero's Movfor phase-III trails show positive results

Hyderabad City-based Hetero, a pharmaceutical company, announced the positive results of Phase III trials of Hetero's Movfor (Molnupiravir), an investigational oral antiviral Covid-19 medicine. Under the Phase III trials, one of the studies included 1,218 Covid-19 patients (with SPO2>93 per cent). The study enrolled eligible patients, within five days of symptom onset, and were administered with Molnupiravir capsules (800 mg twice daily) + Standard of Care (SOC) or SOC alone.

The results, presented as an Oral Abstract at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), demonstrated that Molnupiravir along with Standard of Care (SOC) reduced the risk of hospitalisation by over 65 per cent compared to SOC alone. Early viral clearance (negative RT-PCR) and significant clinical improvement were observed within five days of administering the antiviral drug. There were no fatalities reported during the study.

Hetero entered into a non-exclusive voluntary licensing agreement with MSD in April 2021 for the manufacturing and distribution of investigational oral therapeutic antiviral drug 'Molnupiravir' for the treatment of Covid-19. Under this licensing deal, Hetero was allowed to expand access of Molnupiravir in India and in other low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), following the approvals for emergency use authorization by local regulatory agencies.