Fri 29 October 2021:
Merck & Co., based in the United States, has announced that it will license drugmakers around the world to develop its potentially lifesaving antiviral tablet for the treatment of COVID-19 in adults.
The medicine, known as molnupiravir, has showed promise in treating the disease, and the agreement to license its manufacture might provide access to millions of patients in developing countries.
According to data presented this month, the treatment, molnupiravir, reduced the probability of hospitalization and mortality by half in a trial of mild-to-moderately ill patients with at least one risk factor for the disease.
Former US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) chief Scott Gottlieb, MD, told CNBC the drug was “a profound game-changer.” Top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, MD, called the early data “impressive.”
United Nations-backed Medicines Patent Pool said Wednesday that it had reached an agreement with Merck and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. Under the pact, the U.S. drugmakers will allow MPP to license the manufacture of molnupiravir to qualified pharmaceutical companies across the globe.
“This agreement will help create broad access for molnupiravir use in 105 low- and middle-income countries following appropriate regulatory approvals,” Merck and the patent pool said in a news release.
Under the agreement, Merck and Ridgeback will receive no royalties as long as COVID-19 is considered a global emergency by the World Health Organization. Makers of coronavirus vaccines have yet to make similar agreements, despite pressure from governments and the WHO.
Molnupiravir, which is awaiting authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, was originally developed by scientists at Emory University. It works by blocking the ability of the coronavirus to replicate.
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