Provider Alert! Merck Oral COVID-19 drug, Molnupiravir, Added to Formulary

Date: January 24, 2022

Attention: Primary care providers

Effective Date: January 3, 2022

Providers should monitor the Texas Children’s Health Plan (TCHP) Provider Portal regularly for alerts and updates associated to the COVID-19 event.  TCHP reserves the right to update and/or change this information without prior notice due to the evolving nature of the COVID-19 event.

Call to action: HHSC added Molnupiravir to the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) formulary as a payable pharmacy benefit on January 3^rd, 2021. Molnupiravir is indicated to treat individuals with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19 and for whom alternative treatment options authorized by the FDA are not accessible or clinically appropriate.

HHSC added the following national drug codes (NDC) for Molnupiravir:

The dosage for Molnupiravir is 800 mg (four 200mg capsules) taken orally every 12 hours for 5 days.

How this impacts providers:  Molnupiravir requires a prescription and should be initiated after diagnosis of COVID-19 and within 5 days of symptom onset. The medication is not authorized for the prevention of COVID-19. Providers can find more information at the DSHS Therapeutics website, which includes a map of pharmacies where DSHS has distributed Molnupiravir for the week of December 27, 2021, and an update on the recently authorized therapeutics for COVID-19. DSHS will revise the site when they distribute additional allocations of Molnupiravir in the coming weeks

Next steps for providers: Providers should share this update with their staff as well

If you have any questions, please email Provider Network Management at: providerrelations@texaschildrens.org.

For access to all provider alerts, log into:
www.thecheckup.org or www.texaschildrenshealthplan.org/for-providers.