WEBVTT - Merk’s COVID Pill Gets Heavily Prescribed Despite Concerns

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<v Speaker 1>It's Monday, March one. I'm Oscar and Mirrors from the

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<v Speaker 1>Daily Dive podcast in Los Angeles, and this is reopening America.

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<v Speaker 1>The COVID pill made by Merk has been prescribed heavily,

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<v Speaker 1>despite some concerns. Regulators and doctors think that the Mirk

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<v Speaker 1>pill should be one of the last options in treating

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<v Speaker 1>COVID because of concerns that it could cause birth defects

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<v Speaker 1>and cause more variance to form. But with Fiser's pill

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<v Speaker 1>and limited supply, many doctors have turned to maul new Peravier.

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<v Speaker 1>Jared Hopkins, pharma reporter at The Wall Street Journal, joins

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<v Speaker 1>us for what to know about the Mirk covid anti viral.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for joining us, Jared, Thanks for having me. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>we're looking at what we got going so far as

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<v Speaker 1>therapeutics for COVID nineteen. And there's two COVID pills out

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<v Speaker 1>there right now, one from Fiser and one from MRK.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, the Fiser one seems to be the pill

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<v Speaker 1>of choice for doctors. They say that the Mark one

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<v Speaker 1>should probably be used as a last resort, but what

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<v Speaker 1>we're seeing is it's getting heavy, heavy usage. Uh, just

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<v Speaker 1>some concerns because just the limited supply of the fiser pill.

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<v Speaker 1>So Jared, help us walk through some of this. What

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<v Speaker 1>are we seeing and what do we know about this

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<v Speaker 1>smirk covid pill. So the mirk pill is called monopure

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<v Speaker 1>viewer and the fiser pill is called tax lovid. And

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<v Speaker 1>the main difference here, there's a couple of many differences,

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<v Speaker 1>is that the mirk pill was shown in a clinical

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<v Speaker 1>trial to be effective at reducing hospitalization and death, and

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<v Speaker 1>the fiser pill was shown to be eight percent effective.

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<v Speaker 1>But a big difference here is that and both pills

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<v Speaker 1>were cleared for use back late last year. However, the

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<v Speaker 1>fiser pill wasn't much much less supply. There is much

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<v Speaker 1>less supply of the fiser pill. And so when physicians

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<v Speaker 1>and when providers found themselves amidst this omicron surge, even

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<v Speaker 1>though the fiser pill was preferred and in fact recommended

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<v Speaker 1>by authorities, the Mirk pill is what ended up being

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<v Speaker 1>prescribed very often because it happened to be there in stock.

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<v Speaker 1>And here we are in mid March, and the two

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<v Speaker 1>pills are are pretty much neck and neck in prescriptions,

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<v Speaker 1>which is surprising to too many people. Yeah, the prescription

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<v Speaker 1>numbers so seventy four thousand, over seventy four thousand for

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<v Speaker 1>the mirk pill, seventy nine thousand for packs slovid the

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<v Speaker 1>Fiser pill. So, just like you said, just neck and neck,

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<v Speaker 1>but there are concerns with with both pills. So pack

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<v Speaker 1>selvid the fiser one. I guess there's potential harm of

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<v Speaker 1>mixing it with other medicines. Do we know what types

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<v Speaker 1>of medications would cause some problems with that one? Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>So there's a lot of common medications that people take

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<v Speaker 1>that have potential to be safety risks if they are

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<v Speaker 1>taking in combination or mixed with pack slovid. This can

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<v Speaker 1>be just cholesterol controlling drugs, cholesterol lowering drugs commonly known

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<v Speaker 1>as statins, but as well as certain kids need disease

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<v Speaker 1>and liver disease drugs as well. So these individuals, these

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<v Speaker 1>patients might not be able to take pack sloavid. It's

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<v Speaker 1>it's up to you know, with their doctor. However, what

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<v Speaker 1>we've seen is that some of these interactions are actually manageable. So,

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<v Speaker 1>for example, statins, for people who are taking statins, physicians

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<v Speaker 1>are saying, hey, once you're done with you know, when

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<v Speaker 1>you're taking pack sloavied, just pause your statin and take

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<v Speaker 1>pack Slovid for those five days that pack Slobedes need

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<v Speaker 1>to be taken, and then resume your statins after that.

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<v Speaker 1>So it's been a little bit manageable. But because of

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<v Speaker 1>these interactions, there are still many patients who can't take

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<v Speaker 1>pack sloaded and therefore then the physicians are prescribing them

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<v Speaker 1>mountuper here. So mount of peer beer is also filling

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<v Speaker 1>this hole for patients who might not be able to

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<v Speaker 1>get or to take pack slogan. And there's also some

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<v Speaker 1>concerns with the Merk pail to. One among them was

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<v Speaker 1>that it could cause a higher frequency of virus mutation

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<v Speaker 1>is because of the way the pill works. Some other

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<v Speaker 1>people said it could also cause birth defects. I hadn't

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<v Speaker 1>heard that one. And they tell their male patients to,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, either not have sex or use condoms for

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<v Speaker 1>at least three months after the treatment. So, I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>those are some interesting things I had not heard previously.

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<v Speaker 1>So the merk drug actually works by inserting errors into

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<v Speaker 1>the UH. It stops the virus by inserting errors into

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<v Speaker 1>the genetic code of the virus. However, what was found

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<v Speaker 1>was that in animal testing was that the drug could

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<v Speaker 1>cause birth defects and so as a result, it's not

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<v Speaker 1>recommended for pregnant women or women of childbearing age or

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<v Speaker 1>interested in becoming pregnant. And as a result, men who

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<v Speaker 1>are prescribed it are recommended to use a contraception birth

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<v Speaker 1>control for at least three months after taking the treatment.

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<v Speaker 1>You know that that has actually caused some positions that

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<v Speaker 1>I talked to, that has caused some patients to forego

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<v Speaker 1>that treatment, some men who with wented. So there are

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<v Speaker 1>some concerns. The concerns from physicians are, hey, we've got

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<v Speaker 1>a drug here that is effective, so not as effective

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<v Speaker 1>as as another pillfis your one, and we have some

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<v Speaker 1>risks here, so why not go with Paxlovian instead. And

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<v Speaker 1>that is why paxlovid is is what is recommended by

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<v Speaker 1>the FDA, the National Institutes of Health, and the Infectious

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<v Speaker 1>Disease Society of America. They say, go with pax that's

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<v Speaker 1>the primary one. If that's not available, then recommend antibody treatments.

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<v Speaker 1>If those aren't available or people can't take those, they

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<v Speaker 1>even want you to take a different anti viral from Gilead.

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<v Speaker 1>And if that's not available, then you get to monopere here.

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<v Speaker 1>But in the meantime, you know, the government has already

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<v Speaker 1>bought millions of courses of both paxelovid and and the monopervier,

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<v Speaker 1>so we're going to have stock of that. There's also

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<v Speaker 1>the Test to Treat program that present by and has

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<v Speaker 1>started with all of this. Basically, if you test positive

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<v Speaker 1>at a pharmacy or clinic or whatever, you can be

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<v Speaker 1>sent home with some pills. And as you mentioned you

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<v Speaker 1>it was just in the absence of the pack selvid,

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<v Speaker 1>the fiser pill, this other pill could be prescribed just

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<v Speaker 1>as much as we've seen already. So just some interesting

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<v Speaker 1>things to know about all of this. Jared Hopkins farm

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<v Speaker 1>a reporter at the Wall Street Journal, thank you very

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<v Speaker 1>much for joining us, Thanks for having me. I'm Oscar

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<v Speaker 1>Ramirez and this has been reopening America. Don't forget that.

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<v Speaker 1>For today's big news stories, you can check me out

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<v Speaker 1>of the Daily Dive podcast every Monday through Friday, so

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