コロナ飲み薬、２４日にも審議　承認なら国内初、米メルク製―厚労省部会

　米製薬大手メルクなどが開発した新型コロナウイルス感染症の飲み薬「モルヌピラビル」について、厚生労働省が２４日にも専門部会を開き、承認可否を判断することが１５日、関係者への取材で分かった。承認されれば新型コロナの飲み薬としては国内初。服用しやすい薬の普及で治療が容易になることが期待される。（2021/12/15-22:34）

Japan's health ministry will hold a panel meeting as early as Dec. 24 to decide whether to approve molnupiravir, an oral COVID-19 drug developed jointly by U.S. firms Merck & Co. and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP, according to informed sources.
   If approved, molnupiravir will be the first orally administered novel coronavirus drug to be put into practical use in Japan. The easy-to-take drug is expected to facilitate the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
   Molnupiravir is an oral antiviral drug designed to block the functioning of an enzyme that is needed for the proliferation of the virus. In clinical trials, the drug reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by about 30 pct for mildly and moderately ill COVID-19 patients.
   The Japanese government aims to put an oral COVID-19 drug into practical use by year-end.
   The use of molnupiravir was approved in Britain last month for the first time in the world.