Drug company Merck is awaiting word on its emergency use authorization application for its recently announced drug molnupiravir. If approved, the anti-viral drug developed at a lab at Emory University could become the first-ever pill to treat COVID-19. The latest Georgia Today podcast examines the journey that led to this potential breakthrough and its connection to Emory.
Researchers at Atlanta’s Emory University were the ones who invented a promising antiviral drug in the fight against COVID-19 — a pill that pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. said on Friday reduced hospitalizations and deaths by half in people recently infected with the coronavirus.
The number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized inside Emory Healthcare has jumped nearly fivefold since early June, straining the state’s largest health system as its doctors, nurses and staff work around-the-clock tending to sick patients, according to data shown to GPB News.
