But molnupiravir showed no obvious benefit at reducing hospital cases and deaths, a study found.
Research in this latest study showed the treatment reduced recovery time by around four days and also reduced the viral load - the level of infection.
Molnupiravir, which is made by Merck, Sharp and Dohme , is very expensive- a seven-day course costs around £577. Chris Butler, who is a professor of primary care in the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, says: "Finding effective, safe and scalable early treatments for Covid-19 in the community is the next major frontier in our research response to the ongoing worldwide pandemic."But decisions about who to treat should always be based on evidence from rigorous clinical trials that involve people who would most likely be prescribed the drugs.
Former deputy chief medical officer for England, Prof Sir Jonathan Van-Tam, who is pro-vice-chancellor for the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Nottingham and study co-author, said: "While molnupiravir was originally found to work well to reduce hospitalisation in patients with Covid, these were unvaccinated patients.
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