Merck has agreed to supply its COVID-19 pill, molnupiravir, to over 100 low- and middle-income countries through a sublicensing deal with Medicines Patent Pool (MPP).
The contract with MPP, a United Nations-backed public health organization, is just one of several recent agreements Merck has signed with generics manufacturers to license its COVID-19 oral medication. This is MPP's first time licensing a COVID-19 treatment, but in the past it has distributed HIV, hepatitis C, and tuberculosis therapies.
MPP executives said they hope this collaboration with Merck will inspire other COVID-19 therapy makers to share their treatments with non-wealthy nations in serious need of more tools to fight the pandemic. Merck, Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, and Emory University – the co-creators of molnupiravir – will not receive royalties on the treatment under their agreement with MPP until the World Health Organization no longer classifies COVID-19 as an international public health concern.
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