Covid-19 roundup: Merck prepares new study on their $425M Covid drug; COVAX begins rollout but huge disparities still loom
Merck spent $425 million to buy out OncoImmune in November, presumably under the belief that they could scale up their drug for severe Covid-19 and get it through the FDA on the strength of a Phase III trial the smaller biotech completed in September.
The FDA threw a wrench in those plans. The agency told Merck last week that the 203-person study wasn’t sufficient to show the drug was effective. Now, Bloomberg reports, Merck is preparing an additional Phase III study, one that will push results — and any chance of approval — back to the end of the year.
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