CEO Robert Davis said on Thursday the drugmaker is ready to produce and distribute tens of millions of doses of its Covid antiviral pills if given regulatory approval. “Right now, we’re on pace to have 10 million courses ready before the end of this year, and more than double that next year,” according to Merck CEO Robert Davis.
A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee is
scheduled to evaluate the safety and efficacy data of the pill, known as molnupiravir, on Nov. 30 and decide whether or not to approve it for emergency use authorization in the U.S. Merck and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutic said that internal
data indicated that the risk of hospitalization or death from Covid was cut in half by molnupiravir. “I can tell you through the data we’ve seen and the studies we’ve done, we think this is a safe drug,” Davis said.
Merck entered an
agreement with a United Nations-backed group to help produce the Covid antiviral pill across the world. The agreement would allow molnupiravir to be produced by qualified pharmaceutical companies around the world to address health inequities highlighted by vaccine distribution. Merck will receive no royalties from sales of the pill as long as Covid remains classified as a public health emergency by the World Health Organization.
Globally, there have been more than 244 million confirmed cases of Covid since the start of the pandemic, and 4.9 million deaths, according to
WHO data.
Davis said he sees lots of opportunities in the future for
Merck. “We’re excited about our pipeline, we’re excited about our ability to grow ... we frankly continue to believe our growth through 2024 is underappreciated so I think there’s more opportunity for this stock,” he added.
Merck beat Wall Street expectations with
quarterly results, and its stock was up roughly 2% in Thursday’s premarket. The company earned an adjusted $1.75 per share in the third quarter on revenue of $13.1 billion. Merck raised its full-year outlook.
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