Covid-19 roundup: French reg­u­la­tors not ready to give mol­nupi­ravir the OK; Brii claims Chi­na’s first an­ti­body is ef­fec­tive against Omi­cron

Mer­ck’s po­ten­tial Covid-19 treat­ment mol­nupi­ravir will not be used in France, French reg­u­la­tors said Fri­day.

The French Na­tion­al Au­thor­i­ty of Health cit­ed the po­ten­tial im­pact of the Omi­cron vari­ant, the fact that Re­gen­eron’s mAb cock­tail is more ef­fec­tive, and the pill’s own lack of ef­fi­ca­cy as rea­sons for deny­ing ear­ly ac­cess of the drug to pa­tients ex­pe­ri­enc­ing mild to mod­er­ate cas­es of Covid-19. France has al­ready pre-or­dered hun­dreds of thou­sands of the pills, with the goal of treat­ing 50,000 pa­tients.

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