Take-at-home COVID drug molnupiravir may be on its way — but vaccination is still our first line of defence

By Nial Wheate, Associate Professor of the Sydney Pharmacy School, University of Sydney

The Australian government has pre-purchased 300,000 courses of an experimental antiviral oral drug called molnupiravir.

Interim results announced by the company, US pharmaceutical Merck, show the drug halved the number of patients who ended up in hospital due to COVID. No patient who took the drug died from the virus.

But the drug isn’t yet available for dispensing from pharmacies because it hasn’t received approval from Australia’s drug regulator, the Therapeutic…

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