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Drug Discovery and Development

Japanese government agrees to buy 1.6 million molnupiravir courses

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Molnupiravir

Image courtesy of Merck & Co.

Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK) and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics will sell approximately 1.6 million courses of the COVID-19 antiviral molnupiravir (MK-4482, EIDD-2801) to the Japanese government.

In related news, Thailand announced that it intends to purchase 50,000 courses of the drug while Taiwan plans on obtaining 10,000 courses. 

The U.S. plans on purchasing roughly 3.1 million courses of molnupiravir. 

The UK authorized the drug last week. 

Assuming molnupiravir receives authorization or approval in Japan, Merck stands to gain approximately $1.2 billion to cover the 1.6 million courses. That equates to roughly $750 per course — slightly higher than the going rate in the U.S. 

The company has also taken steps to ensure the drug is affordable in developing countries. For example, it is offering tiered pricing based on nations’ economic means and has also granted voluntary licenses to generic manufacturers and the Medicines Patent Pool. 

Merck aims to manufacture 10 million courses of the drug by the end of the year and at least 20 million courses in 2022. 

Filed Under: Infectious Disease
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About The Author

Brian Buntz

As the pharma and biotech editor at WTWH Media, Brian has almost two decades of experience in B2B media, with a focus on healthcare and technology. While he has long maintained a keen interest in AI, more recently Brian has made making data analysis a central focus, and is exploring tools ranging from NLP and clustering to predictive analytics.

Throughout his 18-year tenure, Brian has covered an array of life science topics, including clinical trials, medical devices, and drug discovery and development. Prior to WTWH, he held the title of content director at Informa, where he focused on topics such as connected devices, cybersecurity, AI and Industry 4.0. A dedicated decade at UBM saw Brian providing in-depth coverage of the medical device sector. Engage with Brian on LinkedIn or drop him an email at bbuntz@wtwhmedia.com.

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