Pharmaceutical companies Merck, known as MSD, and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics announced on Friday that their experimental antiviral pill, molnupiravir, reduces the risk of hospitalisation by about 50% among people infected with covid and virtually eliminates the risk of death. Results from phase 3 trials – which test whether the drug is effective – show that only 7.3% of patients who received the drug were hospitalised in the following 29 days, compared to the 14.1% of those on placebo. In addition, no fatalities were recorded among the patients who were treated with the drug, while eight of the patients who did not receive it eventually died.