MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo’s office is making molnupiravir, a pill for the treatment of COVID-19, available to patients under its teleconsultation program through an agreement inked with QualiMed Health Network.
Under the memorandum of agreement signed Monday, the Office of the Vice President will issue a guarantee letter under its special medical assistance program to a patient referred by a volunteer doctor under its Bayanihan E-Konsulta and is further assessed and prescribed molnupiravir by QualiMed facilities.
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“We are truly humbled and grateful to the QualiMed Health Network for trusting us with this partnership, helping us extend our reach in delivering aid to more of our kababayans in need,” Robredo said in a Facebook post.
Molnupiravir is an investigational oral antiviral drug developed by Merck & Co. and Ridgeback Therapeutics, which can cut the risk of hospitalization among people with mild to moderate COVID-19 by 50%, according to interim phase III clinical trials.
Currently, the drug is only available to patients through hospitals which have received compassionate special permits from the Food and Drug Administration as the regulator has not yet cleared it for emergency use.
The OVP said among the hospitals which have received CSPs are QualiMed facilities like QualiMed San Jose Del Monte in Bulacan and QualiMed Manila within the Philippine General Hospital compound.
Robredo and her office have been actively addressing the COVID-19 pandemic through various programs, which have been widely praised.
The vice president, who is running for president in the 2022 elections, has presented a comprehensive plan to address the pandemic should she get elected into Malacañang. — Xave Gregorio