Merck's early greenlight to production of its anti-viral pill molnupiravir by other companies during the pandemic is a rare example in the pharmaceutical sector, which usually protects its patented treatments for longer periods.
That is far below the $700 per course the United States agreed to pay for an initial delivery of 1.7 million courses, but twice as high as first estimated by the World Health Organization -backed programme to procure Covid-19 drugs and vaccines for the world. While molnupiravir is in use in the United States after approval in December, some other Western countries have cancelled or are reconsidering orders after the drug showed low efficacy in trials.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more: