DRL, Natco to make cheap Merck pill for poorer nations

A UN-backed agency has struck a deal for nearly 30 generic drugmakers to make low-cost versions of Merck & Co's Covid-19 pill molnupiravir for poorer nations.

The pill cuts hospitalisations and deaths of highrisk patients by around 30 per cent, according to clinical trial results.

The deal, negotiated by the UN-backed Medicines

Patent Pool (MPP) with Merck, will expand output by increasing the number of companies that will produce the drug, after Merck entered into licensing agreements with eight Indian firms in October.

The new agreement allows 27 generic drugmakers from India, China and other countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East to produce ingredients and the finished drug.

The MPP said the deal stipulated the pill would be distributed to 105 lessdeveloped nations. A spokesperson later said deliveries from some firms could start in February.

A molnupiravir course of 40 pills for five days is expected to cost about $20 in poorer nations, an MPP official said, citing initial estimates from drugmakers, which can change.

That is far below the $700 per course the US agreed to pay for an initial delivery of 1.7 million courses, but twice as high as first estimated by the WHO.

Bangladesh's Beximco Pharmaceuticals, India's Natco Pharma, South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare Holdings and China's Fosun Pharma are among generics firms that will produce the finished product. Other firms, including Dr Reddy's Laboratories, had struck earlier deals with Merck for the production of molnupiravir. Dr Reddy's will sell molnupiravir at Rs 1,400 ($18.8) per course.