MERCK’S PILL TO BE PRODUCED BY OVER TWO DOZEN DRUGMAKERS

Medicines Patent Pool, an organization supported by the U.N., announced Thursday that over two dozen generic drugmakers will soon begin producing Merck’s COVID-19 pill to make the treatment more accessible in developing countries.

The organization said that 27 generic drugmakers would produce the pill for 105 developing countries. Specifically, agreements the companies signed allow them to make both molnupiravir’s raw ingredients as well as the final product.

Molnupiravir is the COVID-19 treatment developed by Merck and Ridgeback Therapeutics. For patients with early signs of COVID-19, the pill is believed to cut the hospitalization rates in half.

The drugmakers producing the generic pills come from 11 countries including Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Vietnam, Kenya and South Africa, the organization said.

“This is a critical step toward ensuring global access to an urgently needed COVID-19 treatment,” Medicines Patent Pool’s executive director Charles Gore said in a statement.