Pharmaceutical company Merck has agreed to allow other drug makers around the world to produce its COVID-19 pill with the intention of helping millions of people in the poorest countries, a UN-backed public health organization reported Wednesday.
The organism Medicines Patent Pool said in a statement that it signed a voluntary license agreement with Merck and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics to produce Molnupiravir.
The agreement would allow Medicines Patent Pool grant future licenses to companies authorized to produce the drug. Under the contract, no pharmaceutical company would receive royalties as long as the World Health Organization considers that the COVID-19 it is a global emergency. Molnupiravir It is the first pill that has been shown to be effective against this condition.
Charles Gore, CEO of Medicines Patent Pool, said that the first results of the molnupiravir they were “compelling” and that he hoped that the first voluntary license agreement for a treatment for COVID-19 would make way for others.
Despite repeated requests from governments and health officials, no vaccine producer has agreed to something similar. A center established by the WHO in South Africa whose intention was to share technologies and recipes for the messenger RNA vaccine has not convinced any drug companies to join.
Merck You have requested authorization of your pill from both the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as well as the European Medicines Agency. They are expected to make a decision in a matter of weeks.
This month, Merck reported that the pill would reduce hospitalizations and deaths by 50% among patients who manifest the first symptoms of the COVID-19. The results are so strong that independent medical experts monitoring the tests recommended ending them earlier.
An antiviral pill that people can take at home to reduce their symptoms and speed their recovery could be groundbreaking, alleviating the overwhelming burden of cases in hospitals and helping contain outbreaks in poorer countries with poor health care systems.
It could also promote a double strategy to the pandemic: treatment, in the form of medicine, and prevention, mainly through vaccines.
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