NEW ORLEANS — COVID-19 has killed one of every 332 people in Louisiana. Let that sink in, one in every 332 people in our state, in just the last 18 months.
And that number gets worse every day.
But now, there's promising news in the fight to save lives with a pill being studied that could cut deaths in half.
A year ago pharmaceutical company Merck began testing an antiviral pill in people who got the coronavirus. They planned to test it on 1,850 people worldwide, but now they say it worked so well in 304 people, they stopped the study early and are moving forward on asking for approval to put Molnupiravir on the market.
“What's really great about this drug is that it's oral and it's being tested in outpatients that are, now otherwise we have no other treatment,” said Dr. Josh Denson, the Tulane Medical Director of Critical Care and Pulmonology.
It works like Tamiflu, the antiviral for influenza viruses. You take the pill at home when you catch the virus and Merck says it keeps the coronavirus from replicating. So you have a lower viral load. They say in people with mild to moderate symptoms, it cut hospitalizations and deaths by half.
“And so there's nothing really approved for an outpatient, antiviral therapy, so that's what's pretty exciting about this drug.”
The only one being used now is Remdesivir, but it is given by IV in a hospital setting. The people in the study were at higher risk for severe COVID-19. They had either diabetes, obesity, heart disease or were 60 and older.
“I think it's great. I think this is one of our best options. The only thing that's better than this is vaccination. We had someone die just, unfortunately, this past week who's been with us for over a month and all this is very preventable,” said Dr. Denson about an unvaccinated patient.
Dr. Densen who has been in the ICU during the pandemic reminds us that while an independent safety board stopped the study early after looking at the promising data, it still has not had the full scrutiny of the independent scientific community. And if that holds up, it could save lives worldwide.
Dr. Denson says if this drug is approved for emergency use, it would make a big difference in Louisiana. That's because there's a high number of people with heart disease, diabetes and obesity, which increase the risk of severe COVID complications.