The Medicines Patent
Pool said the deals would allow drug companies to make both the raw ingredients
for molnupiravir and the finished product itself.
Molnupiravir,
developed by Merck and Ridgeback Therapeutics, has been reported to cut the
hospitalization rate in half among patients with early signs of COVID-19.
Britain, the European Union and the U.S. authorized its use in recent months.
“This is a critical
step toward ensuring global access to an urgently needed COVID-19 treatment,”
Charles Gore, executive director of the Medicines Patent Pool, said.
The group said 27
generic drug manufacturers in 11 countries, including Bangladesh, China, Egypt,
Vietnam, Kenya and South Africa, would soon start producing Merck’s pill.
An antiviral pill that people could take at
home to reduce their symptoms and speed recovery could prove groundbreaking,
easing the crushing caseload on hospitals and helping to curb outbreaks in
poorer countries with weak health care systems.
It would also bolster a two-pronged
approach to the pandemic: treatment by way of medication and prevention,
primarily through vaccinations.
Merck announced in October that it would
allow other pharmaceuticals to make molnupiravir. Neither Merck, Ridgeback
Biotherapeutics nor Emory University, which invented the drug, will receive
royalties while COVID-19 remains a global health emergency from sales of
molnupiravir made by the generic companies.
To date, no coronavirus vaccine
manufacturers have agreed to a similar deal. -AP