The FDA has narrowly backed Merck’s covid pill

How the world is responding to Omicron 

Sponsored by JPMorgan Chase The Download Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology New covid pills 12.01.21 Good morning! Today: the FDA has narrowly backed Merck's antiviral pill for covid, despite lower-than-hoped efficacy data. Also: all the latest news from around the world on Omicron. Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. The FDA has narrowly backed Merck’s covid pill    The news: A US Food and Drug Administration panel has voted by 13 to 10 to recommend that the government authorize Merck’s antiviral pill for high-risk covid-19 patients. The drug, called molnupiravir, has been shown to reduce the risk of hospitalization and death, although by less than previously thought. Initial results in October found it cut the risk of hospitalization or death by 50%, but that was cut to 30% last week after Merck received updated trial data.  Lacking consensus: The vote was so tight due to concerns over the change in the drug’s efficacy data, but also over its safety.  One of the panel members said he voted “no” due to worries the drug could, theoretically, lead to new covid-19 variants. Other panelists, though, argued that the overall risk was small enough to vote it through.  Who can take it: If it’s authorized, the drug will be prescribed to people at high risk of severe covid-19 to take twice a day at home for five days. Tens of millions of Americans who are older or have underlying medical conditions would qualify, and they’d need to begin taking it within five days of symptoms appearing.  What’s next: In the coming weeks, the FDA will assess a similar pill from Pfizer which seems to be significantly more effective than Merck’s, reducing the risk of hospitalization or death within the same patient groups by 89%. Read the full story. We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction in these weird times. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet 'em at me.)   + Follow this Instagram account for stunning landscape photography.   + Now here’s a Flickr page that’s right up my street, dedicated to the architectural details of London pubs.    + Camel beauty contests are held every year by the Bedouin people in the United Arab Emirates.    + The New Yorker had a cute dog-themed cartoon yesterday.   + Angela Merkel surprised everyone by picking a punk track to be played at her leaving ceremony. Who knew?!   + Barbados has ditched Queen Elizabeth II for its rightful queen: Rihanna.    + Why are some shapes of potato fry better than others? Let’s investigate.    + Photographer Janette Beckman talks about the four decades she’s spent capturing underground movements around the world on camera.   Free event: TR35 Festival Join visionaries, trailblazers, entrepreneurs, and game changes from around the world as the Innovators under 35 share the personal stories behind their big ideas and bold innovation. Register now. Sponsor Message JPMorgan Chase is not only a global financial institution But one of the world's largest technology organizations. With over 50,000 technologists across 21 Global Technology Centers, globally, JPMorgan Chase designs, builds and deploys technology that enables solutions that are transforming the financial services industry and beyond.  Learn more → The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 How the world is responding to Omicron In the same piecemeal fashion that has hobbled the pandemic response all along. (NYT $)   + Omicron was in the Netherlands a week before South Africa reported it. (NPR)   + Why Omicron seems to spread more easily. (The Economist $)   + Will we ever be free of covid? (Quanta)   + If there’s any moral to the story, it’s that we need to hurry up and vaccinate the world. (New Yorker $)   + A federal judge blocked Biden’s vaccine mandate for healthcare workers. (NYT $)   + Severe covid infections may seriously damage your long-term health. (The Guardian)   + Travel bans are walloping South Africa’s economy. (NYT $)  2 Nearly three billion people have never gone online, says the UN That’s 37% of the world's population, and despite a pandemic-related surge in internet users. (The Guardian)   3 Crypto investors are buying up bits of (virtual) land 💸 Sometimes for millions of dollars. People really have lost their minds. (NYT $)   + El Salvador’s “bitcoin city?” Never gonna happen. (NBC)   + What can the metaverse learn from Second Life? (IEEE Spectrum)   + Facebook’s crypto chief is leaving. (CNBC)  4 Clean energy will dramatically reshape global politics The road to a net-zero world will be seriously bumpy. (Foreign Affairs $)   + The potential, and the perils, of geoengineering. (Wired $)  5 AI is making the job application process suck The latest grim idea? Asynchronous video interviews. (FT $)   6 Videos shaming women are going viral on TikTok The aim of this nasty trend is to silence women and put them off posting at all. (Vice)   7 Multi-level marketing now has a fresh, Instagram-friendly face But it’s the same old snake oil it always was. (The Atlantic $)   8 You now can’t post a photo of someone on Twitter without their consent The new policy has lots of caveats—it’s going to be a devil to enforce. (The Verge)   9 How do you work out if new tech is “doomed” vs “ahead of its time?” No one’s ever worked out a truly accurate way to answer that question. If they ever did, they’d make a lot of money. (OneZero $)   10 Psychotherapists have a new prescription: gaming 🎮 Is it really a treatment though, or just a distraction from your thoughts? (Wired $) Quote of the day “I cannot see how other developing countries would share information as we shared information given what’s happened with the backlash against South Africa. I cannot imagine it.” —Tulio de Oliveira, one of the South African scientists who first alerted the WHO to the presence of the Omicron variant, tells the New Yorker that he feels the country is being punished for doing the right thing. Top image credit: AP Images Please send curly fries to hi@technologyreview.com. Follow me on Twitter at @charlottejee. Thanks for reading! —Charlotte Was this newsletter forwarded to you, and you'd like to see more? Sign up today Becoming an AI-Driven Business Join us | March 29–30, 2022 Register now Want to change how you receive these emails? 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