(Reuters) – Merck & Co Inc has signed deals to sell about 9 million courses of its experimental COVID-19 pill molnupiravir to governments around the world as nations try to tame the pandemic.
The treatment, which received its first regulatory approvals in Britain and Denmark, is not the only one in the game.
In November, U.S. peer Pfizer Inc called an early halt to a trial of its antiviral drug Paxlovid, which according to final analysis showed nearly 90% efficacy in preventing hospitalizations and deaths in high-risk patients.
While a review of both treatments is ongoing in the United States, a panel of expert advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) narrowly voted on Dec. 1 to recommend the agency authorize Merck’s antiviral pill.
In the European Union, Merck’s treatment is still under review by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). However, faced with rising COVID-19 cases, the regulator on Nov. 19 issued advice on using the pill for adults ahead of providing any wider recommendation.
EMA last week said that EU member states could use Pfizer’s antiviral drug early after diagnosis of an infection even though its full review for regulatory approval has not been completed yet.
The following tables list countries that have expressed interest in Merck or Pfizer pills, sorted alphabetically:
Merck pill
COUNTRY VOLUME PRICE TIMING OF SOURCE
DELIVERY
Australia 300,000 doses
Belgium 10,000 doses
Canada 500,000
courses
EU
France 50,000 doses
Germany
Indonesia 600,000 – 1 December ,
million doses 2021
Italy 50,000 courses
Japan 1.6 mln $1.2
courses billion
Malaysia 150,000
courses
Philippines 300,000 100-150 November
courses pesos 2021
($1.97-$2
.96) per
pill
Singapore
South Korea 200,000
courses
Switzerland 8,640 doses Jan 2022
“at the
latest”
Thailand 200,000
courses
UK
2,230,000 early
2022
courses
United 3,100,000 $700 per
States courses course,
total of
$2.2
billion
Pfizer pill
COUNTRY VOLUME PRICE TIMING OF SOURCE
DELIVERY
Australia 500,000 https://bit.ly/3BTUQeL
courses
Canada 1 mln doses
EU
Germany
Italy 50,000
courses
South Korea 70,000
courses
Thailand
UK
2,750,000 Early
courses 2022
United 10,000,000 $530 per by the end
States courses course, of 2021
total of
$5.29
billion
($1 = 85.4800 taka)
(Reporting by Ina Kreutz, Agnieszka Gosciak and Federica Urso; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Bernadette Baum, Angus MacSwan, Frances Kerry and Paul Simao)
