The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) and Merck announced the signing of a voluntary licensing agreement to facilitate affordable global access for molnupiravir, an investigational oral COVID-19 antiviral medicine for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults who are at risk for progressing to severe COVID-19 and/or hospitalization.
This agreement will help create broad access for molnupiravir use in 105 low and middle-income countries (LMICs) following appropriate regulatory approvals. Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics are jointly developing molnupiravir.
Charles Gore, MPP, executive director, said, “The interim results for molnupiravir are compelling and we see this oral treatment candidate as a potentially important tool to help address the current health crisis. This transparent, public health-driven agreement is MPP’s first voluntary license for a COVID-19 medical technology, and we hope that Merck’s agreement with MPP will be a strong encouragement to others.”
Dr. Philippe Duneton, executive director, Unitaid, co-lead of the ACT-A Therapeutics Pillar, said, “Effective, easy to administer, oral treatments that can help to reduce the risk for progression to severe illness may be an important tool to help get the pandemic under control. We encourage further efforts in voluntary licensing to ensure that people in low- and middle-income countries can access COVID-19 treatments once authorized by WHO or a stringent regulatory authority.”
Molnupiravir was invented at Emory University and licensed to Ridgeback Biotherapeutics by Drug Innovation Ventures at Emory (DRIVE), LLC, which was formed by Emory to advance the development of early-stage drug candidates for viral diseases of global concern. Emory received research funding from the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics recently announced the submission of an Emergency Use Authorization application for molnupiravir to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and are actively working with additional regulatory agencies worldwide. If authorized, molnupiravir could be the first oral antiviral medicine available for COVID-19 therapy
Subscribe to our e-Newsletters
Stay up to date with the latest news, articles, and events. Plus, get special offers
from American Pharmaceutical Review – all delivered right to your inbox! Sign up now!