• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Britain’s antiviral chief hints at interest in Merck COVID-19 pill

October 1, 2021 by David Barret Leave a Comment

October 1, 2021

LONDON (Reuters) -The chair of Britain’s antivirals taskforce declined to comment directly about talks over Merck & Co Inc’s experimental oral COVID-19 drug molnupiravir, but hinted at Britain’s interest in buying the potential breakthrough pill.

Taskforce chair Eddie Gray was speaking to reporters after interim clinical trial results published on Thursday showed molnupiravir reduced the chance of hospitalisation or death for patients at risk of severe disease by about 50%.

“We are involved in looking closely at all of the options available, but we’re really not in a position to give out the details around specific conversations at this moment in time,” he told a briefing about molnupiravir after the results were published, which was also attended by a Merck representative.

Asked in the online briefing when he could give more details, he said: “The emergence of phase III data tends to accelerate all processes of this type, but I couldn’t give you a specific date.”

Speaking alongside Merck’s vice president for infectious diseases discovery, Daria Hazuda, Gray hinted that Britain would look to buy the drug, saying: “I have chosen to turn up today to be here. Read into that what you wish.”

Merck and partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics plan to seek U.S. emergency use authorisation for the pill as soon as possible, and to submit applications to regulatory agencies worldwide. Due to the positive results, the Phase III trial is being stopped early at the recommendation of outside monitors.

If authorised, molnupiravir, which is designed to introduce errors into the genetic code of the coronavirus, would be the first oral antiviral medication for COVID-19.

“We’re committed to making this drug rapidly available in the UK,” Merck’s Hazuda said.

(Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by David Clarke)

Source Link Britain’s antiviral chief hints at interest in Merck COVID-19 pill

David Barret
David Barret

Related posts:

  1. Small U.S. employers frustrated by Biden’s COVID vaccine mandate
  2. Analysis-Epic’s narrow win in App Store case toughens fight against Google Play rules
  3. As Fed readies for taper, Chair Powell convenes listening event
  4. Firefighters retreat as La Palma volcanic explosions intensify

Filed Under: News

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

  • Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS May Be 10 Billion Years Old, This Rare Spider Is Half-Female, Half-Male Split Down The Middle, And Much More This Week
  • Why Do Trains Not Have Seatbelts? It’s Probably Not What You Think
  • World’s Driest Hot Desert Just Burst Into A Rare And Fleeting Desert Bloom
  • Theoretical Dark Matter Infernos Could Melt The Earth’s Core, Turning It Liquid
  • North America’s Largest Mammal Once Numbered 60 Million – Then Humans Nearly Drove It To Extinction
  • North America’s Largest Ever Land Animal Was A 21-Meter-Long Titan
  • A Two-Headed Fossil, 50/50 Spider, And World-First Butt Drag
  • Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Is Losing Buckets Of Water Every Second – And It’s Got Cyanide
  • “A Historic Shift”: Renewables Generated More Power Than Coal Globally For First Time
  • The World’s Oldest Known Snake In Captivity Became A Mom At 62 – No Dad Required
  • Biggest Ocean Current On Earth Is Set To Shift, Spelling Huge Changes For Ecosystems
  • Why Are The Continents All Bunched Up On One Side Of The Planet?
  • Why Can’t We Reach Absolute Zero?
  • “We Were Onto Something”: Highest Resolution Radio Arc Shows The Lowest Mass Dark Object Yet
  • How Headsets Made For Cyclists Are Giving Hearing And Hope To Kids With Glue Ear
  • It Was Thought Only One Mammal On Earth Had Iridescent Fur – Turns Out There’s More
  • Knitters, Artists, And Bakers Unite! Creative Hobbies Can Help Your Brain Stay Young
  • The Biggest Millisecond Pulsar Glitch Recorded Represents An Astronomical Mystery
  • There Are Five Different Types Of Bad Sleeper. Which One Are You?
  • In A World First, Autonomous Underwater Robot Sets Off On Mission To Circumnavigate The Globe
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version