Props! Merck is making its COVID-19 antiviral pill more affordable to low-income countries

[babylonsister]

Freethink
Merck is making its COVID-19 antiviral pill more affordable to low-income countries
The deal could help bring the drug to more than 100 low- and middle-income nations.
By Kristin Houser
October 28, 2021


Drugmaker Merck has agreed to license a promising COVID-19 treatment to manufacturers in low- and middle-income countries for free — a move that could greatly expand access to the potentially life-saving antiviral pill.

The challenge: The only FDA-approved COVID-19 treatment is remdesivir, and it’s an antiviral medication that must be administered intravenously, over the course of several days, which largely limits its use to people who are already hospitalized.

An antiviral pill would be easier to administer before a COVID-19 patient requires hospitalization, which is when antivirals are most effective. It would also have the benefit of being easier to manufacture, store, and distribute than an IV drug.

Merck’s deal with the MPP could cut the per-course cost of the antiviral pill to just $8.

Merck’s antiviral pill: While several companies are developing antiviral pills, Merck’s (molnupiravir) is one of the most promising, reducing high-risk COVID-19 patients’ chances of hospitalization or death by 50% in a phase 3 trial.

more...

https://www.freethink.com/health/mercks-antiviral-pill

[hlthe2b]

1. Merck is not a bad company, as pharmaceutical companies go. For years their famous Merck Manuals

(physician and a separate veterinary edition) have always been useful but profit-based manuals. Still, they served a s a good starting point reference for any number of diagnostic and therapeutic issues in human and veterinary medicine. Now that they have gone digital, I noticed recently that there is free online access. Impressive to me, I have to say since it is now more continuously updated. Merck has also been very responsible in shooting down the BS that their drug, ivermectin is useful against COVID-19. Kudos!