European committee: Regulators should deny Merck’s Lagevrio

The Associated Press

A European medical committee says regulators should reject Merck’s COVID-19 treatment Lagevrio for European Union use. The drugmaker says a European Medicines Agency committee has recommended marketing authorization refusal for the antiviral pill. More than two dozen countries have already approved or authorized the pill, including the U.S. Merck says it plans to appeal the recommendation from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use.  Lagevrio and Pfizer’s pill treatment, Paxlovid, hit the market more than a year ago. They offer an easier way than IV medicines to treat patients with early COVID-19 symptoms at risk of serious illness.