Covid-19 roundup: Gener­ic Mer­ck pill to be made for low­er-in­come coun­tries; Gavi says it needs a $5B boost — re­port

The UN-backed Med­i­cines Patent Pool has inked deals with 27 gener­ic man­u­fac­tur­ing com­pa­nies to make cheap­er ver­sions of Mer­ck’s Covid-19 an­tivi­ral mol­nupi­ravir for dis­tri­b­u­tion in low- and mid­dle-in­come coun­tries.

Mer­ck signed a li­cense agree­ment with MPP back in Oc­to­ber in the hopes of en­sur­ing glob­al ac­cess to the pills. The FDA au­tho­rized mol­nupi­ravir back in De­cem­ber, based on da­ta that sug­gest it re­duces pa­tients’ risk of hos­pi­tal­iza­tion and death by 30%.

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