Aksyon Demokratiko vice presidential candidate Dr. Willie Ong asked the government to place advance orders for a new drug that he described as “a game-changer” in the fight against COVID-19.
“There is a new drug against COVID called Molnupiravir. It is life-saving. Make your order now, it’s good,” Ong said during the One Batangas-IM Pilipinas convention in Lipa City, Batangas on Friday.
Ong was referring to the antiviral pill developed by pharmaceutical giant Merck that is touted to reduce the risk of hospitalization and death in at-risk patients by 50 percent, according to the company’s interim analysis.
The company has filed for an emergency use authorization from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) las Monday which would allow doctors to begin prescribing the drug.
Ong, a cardiologist and internist, said getting the best vaccine available is part of a two-pronged medical approach to fight the virus in order for the economy to recover.
“How can we work when we don’t have enough vaccines? How do our children aging 12-17 years old, who have not yet vaccinated, go to school? The economy will not work if we do not choose the best vaccine, the best medicine,” he said.
But while the government is considering the purchase of the new drug, Ong said it must beef up its supply of other drugs that are effective against COVID-19.
“There are drugs that have been proven to be effective around the world. This is Remdevisir and Tocilizumab,” Ong said.
It could be recalled that people from different parts of the country thronged to Manila because it had a stockpile of the two anti-COVID drugs.
Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, the standard bearer of Aksyon Demokratiko, said they became the “national pharmacy” for the two vital COVID drugs because “what we had was the vision to stockpile essential drugs and the virtue to give them to whoever needs them.”
“If the virus respects no political boundaries, then our compassion must not stop at the city boundaries,” Moreno said.