Minister Of Health: Pfizer Issues Anti-Virus Drug Products Competitors Molnuvirapir Claimed To Be More Efficacious

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JAKARTA - Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said vaccine manufacturer Pfizer introduced a COVID-19 antiviral drug that was claimed to be more efficacious than Molnuvirapir.

"Molnuvirapir is the same as the one that made Ivermectin. Is there a rival, there is. Just left Pfizer today, but has he come as far as Molnuvirapir has got his approval, he is still a bit behind," Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said at a Hearing (RDP) Commission IX of the DPR quoted by Antara, Monday, November 8.

Budi said Molnuvirapir had obtained approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the United States Food and Drug Administration to be given to people who were confirmed positive for COVID-19 but had not yet been hospitalized.

"Based on clinical trials, this Molnuvirapir can reduce 50 percent of a person admitted to the hospital," he said.

While the manufacturer Pfizer claims their antiviral drugs have higher efficacy. "It can reduce the severity of hospital admission above 80 percent, some even say up to 85 percent," Budi added.

The Minister of Health said that the therapeutic strategy or treatment as one of the four government strategies in dealing with the pandemic is indeed moving.

Budi said that Molnuvirapir, which is produced by a US pharmaceutical company called Merck, has given licenses to eight companies in India for the production process.

"Because the structure of the pharmaceutical industry in India is strong and cheap from upstream to downstream, so medical devices and medicines are much cheaper than world prices," he said.*