ICER: Merck's Covid-19 pill doesn't show 'net health benefit' but price is reasonable
The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, a pharma drug pricing watchdog, recently dug into the data on three Covid-19 therapeutics, voting 11-2 that there is not enough evidence to demonstrate a “net health benefit” for Merck’s pill molnupiravir over symptomatic care of Covid-19 alone. But Pfizer’s Paxlovid and the repurposed generic drug fluvoxamine received more favorable votes.
Although the numbers of deaths in the pivotal trials for both the Pfizer and Merck pills were too small to draw firm conclusions, ICER said in its final report that at their current negotiated prices, Merck’s molnupiravir and Pfizer’s Paxlovid, or fluvoxamine’s generic price, “appear—at this time—to have prices reasonably aligned with patient benefits. To the degree that hospitalization from mild-moderate Covid-19 is reduced with the Omicron (or future) variant, and to the degree these treatments are used in lower-risk populations, including patients with full vaccination, their cost effectiveness would be reduced.”
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