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American pharmaceutical company MSD announced its supply and purchase agreement with the Singapore government for molnupiravir on Oct. 6, 2021.
Molnupiravir is an antiviral drug that can be taken orally by adults with mild to moderate Covid-19.
The late-stage trial results of this drug showed its potential to reduce patient's risk of hospitalisation and death.
In response to the announcement, Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) said the drug will only be made available for use in here after the company submits the data to the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) and obtains authorisation for use.
The timeline for approval is dependent on the company’s submission of data to HSA.
There is currently no Molnupiravir clinical trial in Singapore, the ministry revealed.
The ministry said it closely tracks the progress of Covid-19 therapeutics candidates under development globally and confirmed that Singapore has signed an agreement with MSD to purchase Molnupiravir.
The addition of Molnupiravir to the country's portfolio of Covid-19 therapeutics ensures that Singapore has a range of treatment options for different patient groups, MOH added.
Due to commercial sensitivities and confidentiality undertakings in the agreement, MOH said it is not able to disclose more information about the agreement.
How the drug works
Molnupiravir is the chemical name for a medicine originally developed to treat influenza that is given orally in a capsule, Bloomberg reported.
It inhibits replication of Sars-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, by a mechanism known as “lethal mutagenesis”.
In simple terms, it causes the machinery that reproduces the virus’s genetic material to make mistakes, thereby rendering the copies defective, Bloomberg reported.
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Top image via MSD, and MOH website