Look, cutting hospitalizations / deaths by even 30 per cent is still… a huge win — for people actually sick, with the virus. Merck’s Molnupiravir will garner plenty of takers. This will not harm its fortunes, in any material longer term way. [Larger studies always reduce the numbers, a bit. It still… works — and works well. My prior backgrounder is here.]
But you know what the real object lesson is? It is this: wherever possible, just avoid ever getting COVID — in the first place. The best way to do that? Get vaccinated, and when you’re age co-hort is eligible, get a booster. Wear a mask at your grocery… in sum, model safe behaviors. Make it a. . . habit. Here’s the latest, from Reuters, yesterday:
…The drugmaker said its pill showed a 30% reduction in hospitalizations and deaths, based on data from 1,433 patients. In October, its data showed a roughly 50% efficacy, based on data from 775 patients. The drug, molnupiravir, was developed with partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics….
We won’t really know how effective the two are, vis-a-vis each other, until we have around 10,000 patients on each one — or 20,000 in total. And that is the way… real bio-science works. Onward, smiling into Saturday’s chilly-sunset… but clear. Very clear — almost luminously so… as we return to dim-sum carryout….
नमस्ते
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