Gates Foun­da­tion pledges $120M to ramp up gener­ic sup­ply of Mer­ck­'s Covid-19 pill while ac­tivists blast Pfiz­er's dis­pro­por­tion­ate pow­er

Mer­ck’s mol­nupi­ravir may not be of­fi­cial­ly au­tho­rized any­where in the world yet, but who will get ac­cess to it has shaped up to be a huge is­sue. The Bill & Melin­da Gates Foun­da­tion is now step­ping up to en­sure low­er-in­come coun­tries won’t be left be­hind — and call­ing on oth­ers to fol­low its lead.

The oral an­tivi­ral pill, which was shown to dra­mat­i­cal­ly cut the risk of se­vere Covid-19 dis­ease and death in a Phase III study, is the lat­est ral­ly­ing sym­bol in the bat­tle against not just the coro­n­avirus but the in­equal­i­ty it’s ex­posed.

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