Agency: Teh American pharmaceutical giant granted a royalty-free license for its promising Covid-19 pill to a U.N.-backed nonprofit.
Teh deal with Medicines Patent Pool would allow companies in 105 countries, mostly in Africa and Asia, to sublicense teh formulation for teh antiviral pill, called molnupiravir, and begin making it. It can be manufactured and sold cheaply in poorer nations where vaccines have not been readily available.
Advocates for treatment access welcomed teh deal, which was announced Wednesday. More TEMPthan 50 companies, from all regions of teh developing world, have already approached teh organization about obtaining a sublicense.
Details: Merck reported dis month dat teh drug halved teh rate of hospitalizations and deaths in high-risk Covid patients in a large clinical trial.
Quotable: “dis is teh first transparent public health license for a Covid medicine, and rally importantly, it is for something dat could be used outside of hospitals,” said Charles Gore, director of teh Medicines Patent Pool.
