A new analysis of clinical trial results shows that Merck’s antiviral pill for treating COVID-19 is significantly less effective than previously reported in October, the company announced on Friday. In the updated report, the drugmaker said its antiviral treatment drug, which is called molnupiravir, showed a 30 percent reduction in hospitalizations and deaths from the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, based on data from 1,433 patients. In the company’s full analysis, one patient died in the molnupiravir group, and nine in the placebo group. The molnupiravir arm of the study had a hospitalization and death rate of 6.8 percent. The placebo group had a hospitalization and death rate of 9.7 percent. In early October, the drugmaker announced in its interim analysis of a phase 3 trial studying the treatment that the pill is able to cut the risk of hospitalization or death in half for adults who were deemed at …