Merck, partner Halt Covid-19 treatment trial for hospitalized patients

Merck & Co.[MRK] and its partner R idgeback Biotherapeutics LP said they are stopping a trial of their experimental Covid-19 drug after it failed to help hospitalized patients, delivering another setback to doctors seeking treatments to use for the disease.The companies said they would move forward with a separate study that is testing the oral antiviral drug in treating patients early in the course of the disease and who are at high risk of Covid-19 complications.Early study results on hospitalized patients found that the treatment is unlikely to reduce hospitalization stays and deaths, the companies said Thursday.Merck said testing found that the drug, called molnupiravir, inhibits replication of the virus. But the trial of people who weren’t hospitalized was too small to show that the drug reduced clinical symptoms during their early treatment, Merck said.If the drug is proven effective in outpatients after the next, larger round of testing, Merck could file for an emergency-use authorization in the second half of this year, the company said.