Merck & Co. has made waves by claiming one of its antiviral drugs, molnupiravir, could reduce hospitalizations for COVID-19 by roughly half — as has the company’s announced plans to seek emergency use authorization (EUA) from the FDA for the drug.

Experts are optimistic that the drug could be the first of several new therapeutics and prophylactics for COVID-19 — but caution that molnupiravir may not be right for every patient, requires scaled-up production and could be more costly in the commercial market than many expect.

Merck on Oct. 1 claimed in a press release that “molnupiravir reduced the risk of hospitalization or death [from COVID-19] by approximately 50%.” However, the firm’s clinical trial data has not yet been released for peer review or to the FDA.

CMS, in its recent release of 2022 star ratings for private Medicare plans, reported that the percentage of members in plans rated 4 stars and above rose for both Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug (MA-PD) plans and stand-alone Prescription Drug Plans (PDPs).

MA-PD plans’ performance is getting the most buzz — perhaps because an eye-popping 90% of current enrollees are in plans that will be rated 4 stars or higher in 2022, up from 77% of MA-PD enrollees in 2021. Still, PDPs’ year-over-year percentage increase of members in highly rated plans is also notable.

Last year, CMS said that weighted by enrollment, about 17% of PDP enrollees were in contracts that would be awarded 4 or more stars in 2021. And in this year’s fact sheet about the 2022 star ratings, the agency said that about 42% of current PDP enrollees are in contracts that received a rating of 4 or more stars.

With Congress continuing to debate a measure that would allow the Medicare program to negotiate drug prices with manufacturers, a new Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) poll has found that “large majorities” of U.S. adults support such a move, “and this support holds steady even after the public is provided the arguments being presented by parties on both sides of the legislative debate.”

But the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) is striking back, with a spokesperson sending an email to reporters on Oct. 12 that accuses KFF of “joining the partisan fray and political advocacy groups who are trying desperately to build congressional support for government price-setting.”

With its poll question, PhRMA argues, KFF abandons its history of objective queries about the trade-offs of Medicare drug price negotiation and instead uses “obvious bias” to frame the argument as “supporters” versus “opponents,” while also “providing unbalanced arguments on each side.”

Prime Therapeutics LLC is launching a new kind of shopping experience for members of participating Blue Cross Blue Shield plans called MedsYourWay, and its first offering includes a home delivery option through Amazon Pharmacy.

Through the Amazon Pharmacy partnership, MedsYourWay gives consumers “simplified sign-up, real-time medication price displays and an integrated MedsYourWay prescription discount card administered by Inside Rx1,” according to a press release.

“The first interaction is often the toughest when you are going into these digital experiences,” Mark Renze, vice president of strategic partnerships with Prime Therapeutics, tells AIS Health, a division of MMIT. Prime Therapeutics is aiming to change that through the Amazon Pharmacy partnership, which offers consumers a familiar shopping experience paired with Amazon’s delivery guarantee.

More than a year into the pandemic, a handful of vaccines have been authorized for the novel coronavirus in the U.S., yet there is still no cure for COVID-19. Researchers and doctors have been racing to find drugs and therapies that could treat the disease or prevent people from getting infected. Only one drug, Gilead Sciences’ Veklury (remdesivir), has been approved by the FDA, while several treatments received an emergency use authorization (EUA). Here’s a look at some of the key treatments/candidates currently in play: