Molnupiravir for intra-household prevention of COVID-19: The MOVe-AHEAD randomized, placebo-controlled trial

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of molnupiravir for intra-household post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) of COVID-19.

Methods: MOVe-AHEAD was a randomized, controlled, double-blind, phase 3 trial comparing molnupiravir (800 mg twice daily for 5 days) with placebo. Eligible participants were adult, unvaccinated, asymptomatic household contacts of patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19. The primary efficacy endpoint was the incidence of COVID-19 through day 14 in modified intention-to-treat (MITT) participants (those who received ≥1 dose of study intervention) without detectable SARS-CoV-2 at baseline, termed the MITT-VN population. Superiority of molnupiravir was prespecified as a stratified one-sided p-value of <0.0249 for the treatment difference in this endpoint.

Results: The MITT population comprised 763 participants randomized to molnupiravir and 764 to placebo; 83.6% had anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies at baseline. In the MITT-VN population, COVID-19 rates through day 14 were 6.5% with molnupiravir and 8.5% with placebo (one-sided p-value: 0.0848). In the molnupiravir arm, 25/35 of confirmed COVID-19 events (71.4%) occurred after completion of treatment (versus 17/49 [34.7%] for placebo). Adverse event rates were low and similar between molnupiravir and placebo.

Conclusions: Molnupiravir was well-tolerated but did not meet the prespecified superiority criterion, possibly influenced in part by the high pre-existing immunity in the trial population.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04939428.

Keywords: Antiviral; Chemoprevention; Clinical trials; Post-exposure prevention; Randomized; SARS-CoV-2.