The U.S. reached another grim COVID-19 milestone—but a new oral antiviral, developed thanks to the Bayh-Dole Act, could be a solution for unavoidable infections.
Over the weekend, the U.S. passed 700,000 deaths from the coronavirus. The “overwhelming majority” of Americans who died in recent months were unvaccinated, says The New York Times.
But an oral pill developed by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics cuts the risk of hospitalization or death by half,Merck said in a statement.
If approved, it would be the first oral antiviral to fight COVID-19. Merck plans to seek FDA emergency use authorization “as soon as possible.”
It’s an example of why the Bayh-Dole Act matters more than ever. The antiviral was initially discovered by a biotechnology company owned by Emory University. Ridgeback licensed the discovery, then partnered with Merck to develop it—watch this discussion with Ridgeback CEO Wendy Commins Holman.
Read: Happy 40th, Bayh-Dole!
It’s not the only therapeutic in the works. SAB Biotherapeutics is moving its groundbreaking antibody treatment to phase 3 trials after getting good safety and efficacy data in the phase 2 trial.
Read: “Herd” immunity
Therapeutics are an important tool to fight unavoidable infections—but they’re not a replacement for the vaccines, which remain extremely safe and effective.
And another vaccine could soon be on the way: Novavax recently applied for WHO emergency use listing of its vaccine, which would allow it to begin shipping doses to countries in need. The Novavax vaccine has shown extremely high efficacy, as well.
The bottom line: COVID-19 is not going away anytime soon—which is why we need to continue to support America’s drug innovation ecosystem and ensure biotechs large and small can continue developing the medicines we need, for COVID-19 and many other diseases. This is also why we need to ensure proposed drug price controls do not get in the way—learn more and tell your Member of Congress how price controls would harm patients and cures.
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