Hospitalization Among Patients Treated With Molnupiravir: A Retrospective Study of Administrative Data

This study aimed to describe patient characteristics and health outcomes in a cohort of adult patients treated with molnupiravir in an outpatient setting in the United States.METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study of adults identified in the HealthVerity database with a pharmacy claim for molnupiravir between December 24, 2021, and April 14, 2022. Hospitalization and health care use were assessed over the 28 days after the molnupiravir pharmacy claim.FINDINGS: Among 26,554 patients identified, 71.1% were aged ≥50 years and 58.9% were female. A total of 8794 patients (33.1%) had received at least 1 dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The most prevalent risk factors for severe COVID-19 identified were hypertension (45.1%), steroid and/or immunosuppressant use (39.6%), and being obese or overweight (24.6%), with 79.1% of patients having ≥1 risk factor. The majority (61.0%) of patients were prescribed comedications contraindicated with or had the potential for major drug-drug interactions with ritonavir-containing regimens. Within 28 days after initiating molnupiravir, 3.3% of patients were hospitalized for any cause and 1.7% for COVID-19-related reasons. Among all hospitalized patients, 9.2% were admitted to an intensive care unit, 3.9% received oxygen, and 3.8% required mechanical ventilation.IMPLICATIONS: The majority of patients treated with molnupiravir in early 2022 had at least one risk factor for severe COVID-19 and had comedications that could require treatment mod...
Source: Clinical Therapeutics - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Source Type: research