Gates Foundation invests $120mn for pill access
Washington, US - The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on Wednesday announced an investment of up to US$120mn in an effort to speed up low-income countries’ access to a new anti-COVID-19 drug.
The treatment, a pill called molnupiravir developed by US lab Merck, reduces the risk of hospitalisation by half in COVID-19 patients who take it in their first few days of infection, the firm has said, and could be even more effective at preventing deaths from the virus.
The money from the Gates Foundation would be used to encourage the production of generic forms of the drug by other companies, especially in India, to which Merck has already granted such licenses.
“This commitment builds on the foundation’s ongoing efforts... to increase access to COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and tests by supporting R&D, regulatory work, at-risk manufacturing and product delivery,” the foundation said in a statement on Wednesday.
The drug, which as a tablet is easier to administer than other existing intravenous treatment options, could offer another important pandemic-fighting opportunity for countries that are still struggling to access enough vaccines for their populations.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently reviewing the medication for approval in the United States.
Merck has predicted it will be able to produce enough doses to make 10mn courses of treatment by the end of the year.
But the rollout risks following the same trajectory as the antiCOVID-19 vaccines, going almost entirely to rich countries first, with low-income countries left scrambling.
“The global supply was bought up in wealthier countries,” Trevor Mundel, president of the Global Health Division at the Gates Foundation, said.