CHEAPER COVID-19 PILL TO BE AVAILABLE TO 105 DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AFTER MASSIVE DEAL

Fri 21 January 2022:

On Thursday, a UN-backed organization announced that it had reached agreements with more than two dozen generic drug manufacturers to produce versions of Merck’s COVID-19 pill for distribution to 105 developing countries.

According to the Medicines Patent Pool, the agreements will allow drug companies to manufacture both the raw ingredients and the finished product for’molnupiravir.’

Merck and Ridgeback Therapeutics’ ‘Molnupiravir’ has been shown to cut the hospitalization rate in patients with early signs of COVID-19 in half. In recent months, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and the United States all approved its use.

“This is a critical step toward ensuring global access to an urgently needed COVID-19 treatment,” Charles Gore, executive director of the Medicines Patent Pool, said.

The group said 27 generic drug manufacturers in 11 countries, including Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Vietnam, Kenya and South Africa, would soon start producing Merck’s pill.

An antiviral pill that people could take at home to reduce their symptoms and speed recovery could prove groundbreaking, easing the crushing caseload on hospitals and helping to curb outbreaks in poorer countries with weak health care systems.

It would also bolster a two-pronged approach to the pandemic – treatment by way of medication and prevention, primarily through vaccinations.

Merck announced in October that other pharmaceutical companies would be able to manufacture ‘molnupiravir.’

Neither Merck, Ridgeback Biotherapeutics nor Emory University, which invented the drug, will receive royalties while COVID-19 remains a global health emergency from sales of ‘molnupiravir’ made by the generic companies.

No COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers have agreed to a similar agreement as of yet.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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