MEXICO CITY: Mexico’s health regulator has granted authorisation for emergency use of drugmaker Merck’s Covid-19 pill Molnupiravir, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Friday.
The health regulator, Cofepris, confirmed the approval in a statement later in the day.
Cofepris was expected to soon also approve Pfizer’s Paxlovid pill to treat Covid-19, Lopez Obrador added at a regular news conference. Both medications were approved last month in the US.
Molnupiravir was developed with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics and shown to reduce hospitalisations and deaths by around 30% in a clinical trial of high-risk individuals early in the course of the illness.
Lopez Obrador said he planned to make both medications available in public hospitals.