In what's being lauded as "a big step forward" in the fight against the ongoining coronavirus pandemic, drug regulators in Britain on Thursday approved drug company Merck's experimental COVID-19 treatment, making the U.K. the first country in the world to authorize the oral antiviral pill, The Washington Post and Reuters report.
British health secretary Sajid Javid decreed Thursday "a historic day" for his country, adding that the drug's approval "will be a game changer for the most vulnerable and the immunosuppressed, who will soon be able to receive the groundbreaking treatment," per The New York Times.
Merck's oral COVID treatment is the first of its kind to be authorized, "with the green light coming ahead of potential U.S. regulatory clearance," Reuters writes. U.S. counterparts will meet this month to discuss the stateside authorization of the drug, known as molnupiravir.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Javid also said the U.K.'s National Health Service is working in conjunction with the government to make plans "to deploy molnupiravir to patients through a national study as soon as possible."
A global clinical trial showed molnupiravir reduced COVID hospitalizations and deaths by almost half in higher-risk adult patients with mild to moderate illness, per the Post. Experts believe the pill's (hopeful) widespread authorization will live up to its "huge potential" to fight COVID — because pills are easier to take, make, and store, they will likely be "particularly useful in lower- to middle-income countries with weaker infrastructure and limited vaccine supplies," the Post explains.
Suerie Moon, co-director of the Global Health Center at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies of Geneva, said the authorization is "very significant in terms of giving patients and the public a large confidence that this treatment can be widely used."
-
September 14 editorial cartoonsCartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include RFK Jr on the hook, the destruction of discourse, and more
-
Air strikes in the Caribbean: Trump’s murky narco-warTalking Point Drug cartels ‘don’t follow Marquess of Queensberry Rules’, but US military air strikes on speedboats rely on strained interpretation of ‘invasion’
-
Crossword: September 14, 2025The Week's daily crossword puzzle
-
Texas declares end to measles outbreakSpeed Read The vaccine-preventable disease is still spreading in neighboring states, Mexico and Canada
-
RFK Jr. shuts down mRNA vaccine funding at agencySpeed Read The decision canceled or modified 22 projects, primarily for work on vaccines and therapeutics for respiratory viruses
-
Measles cases surge to 33-year highSpeed Read The infection was declared eliminated from the US in 2000 but has seen a resurgence amid vaccine hesitancy
-
Kennedy's vaccine panel signals skepticism, changeSpeed Read RFK Jr.'s new vaccine advisory board intends to make changes to the decades-old US immunization system
-
Kennedy ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory panelspeed read Health Secretary RFK Jr. is a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has criticized the panel of experts
-
RFK Jr. scraps Covid shots for pregnant women, kidsSpeed Read The Health Secretary announced a policy change without informing CDC officials
-
New FDA chiefs limit Covid-19 shots to elderly, sickspeed read The FDA set stricter approval standards for booster shots
-
US overdose deaths plunged 27% last yearspeed read Drug overdose still 'remains the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-44,' said the CDC
