THE Food and Drug Administration has issued emergency an use authorization (EUA) to another brand of the COVID-19 pill molnupiravir, the agency’s officer-in-charge Dr. Oscar Gutierrez said Monday night.
Gutierrez, in his report to President Duterte, said the EUA for Molnaflu has been approved, the second after Molnarz.
The two can be used for patients with mild to moderate symptoms of COVID-19.
Gutierrez said the shelf life for Molnaflu and Molnarz has also been extended to 12 from six months, which will ensure that current stocks will not go to waste.
The FDA also approved the use of two brands of self-administered COVID-19 antigen test kits — Panbio COVID-19 antigen self-test kit manufactured by Abbot and SARS-CoV-2 antigen rapid test for home use of Labnovation Technologies Inc., Gutierrez said.
The Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) is evaluating the effectiveness of 31 other COVID-19 home testing kits.
Gutierrez and National Task Force against COVID-19 medical adviser Ted Herbosa advised consumers to use only FDA-approved test home kits available in licensed drug outlets.
Consumers should also take note of expiration dates and carefully follow instructions found in the package insert.
Herbosa, during the “Laging Handa Public” briefing, also said the people should replace their cloth face mask with a three-ply surgical mask for their protection against airborne infection or illnesses including the Omicron variant.
He said the people do not need to use double masks or even go for high-grade masks such as N-95, KN-95 and K-94 masks but they are free to do so if they can and want to.
He said the high-grade face masks are advisable for health workers and high-risk individuals such as those with comorbidities or immunocompromised.
