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Factbox-Countries rush to buy Merck’s experimental COVID-19 pill – Metro US

Factbox-Countries rush to buy Merck’s experimental COVID-19 pill

FILE PHOTO: A handout photo of an experimental COVID-19 treatment
FILE PHOTO: A handout photo of an experimental COVID-19 treatment pill, called molnupiravir and being developed by Merck & Co Inc and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP

(Reuters) -Merck has signed nine deals to sell more than about 3 million courses in total of its experimental COVID-19 pill molnupiravir to governments around the world as nations scramble to tame the pandemic.

While the drug’s approval in the United States is still pending, Britain on Thursday became the first country in the world to approve the pill.

Last week the company reached a deal with the United Nations-backed Medicines Patent Pool that will allow more companies to manufacture generic versions of the pill with a royalty-free licence applying to 105 low- and middle-income countries. So far Merck has agreed to license the drug to several India-based generic drugmakers.

The company said it plans to produce 10 million courses of the treatment by the end of this year, with at least 20 million set to be manufactured in 2022.

The following table lists countries that have already expressed interest in the pill, sorted alphabetically:

COUNTRY VOLUME PRICE TIMING OF SOURCE

DELIVERY

Australia 300,000 doses nL1N2R02UO

EU nL1N2R80ZA

France 50,000 doses nP6N2Q901D

Indonesia nL4N2RL2KW

Malaysia 150,000 courses nL1N2R306L

Philippines 300,000 courses 100-150 pesos November 2021 nL4N2RN2GN

($1.97-$2.96) per

pill

Singapore nL1N2R305J

South Korea 20,000 courses nL4N2R21J1

Thailand 200,000 courses nL1N2R00D9

UK 480,000 courses nL4N2RV2FV

U.S. 1,700,000 courses $700 per course nL1N2R00D9

(Reporting by Ina Kreutz, Agnieszka Gosciak and Federica UrsoEditing by Mark Potter)