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Merck and Gilead Sciences Sign Deals to Aid India's Covid-19 FightMerck and Gilead Sciences Sign Deals to Aid India's Covid-19 FightNathan-Kazis, Josh.Barron's (Online); New York As Covid-19 infections explode in India, with new cases at an average of 330,000 a day, up from 53,000 just a month ago, drug companies have announced a number of efforts to get treatments to the country. Gilead Sciences (ticker: GILD) said late Monday that it would help local manufacturers produce its Covid-19 antiviral remdesivir, and would immediately send 450,000 vials of the drug to India. U.S. officials said Monday they w ould be sending raw materials needed to make doses of AstraZeneca's (AZN) Covid-19 vaccine to the Serum Institute of India, which manufactures the vaccine. The U.S. also said it would have up to 60 million finished doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to send around the world within months. Merck (MRK), meanwhile, said early Tuesday that it had signed nonexclusive voluntary licensing agreements with five generic drugmakers in India to manufacture molnupiravir—an oral antiviral the company is developing with the private firm Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. The antiviral is currently in a Phase 3 trial in non-hospitalized Covid-19 patients. "The scale of human suffering in India at this moment is devastating, and it is clear that more must be done to help alleviate it," said Merck's CEO, Kenneth Frazier, in a statement. "These agreements, toward which we have been working as we have been studying molnupiravir, will help to accelerate access to molnupiravir in India and around the world." The efforts come amid growing calls for governments to waive patent protections for Covid-19 vaccines to increase global access. Vaccine makers, and some experts, say that waiving patent protections may not help in the short-term, due to manufacturing constraints. Still, the disparities in global vaccine distribution are stark. While the U.S. has fully vaccinated 28.9% of its population, according to Bloomberg, India has fully vaccinated only 1.7% of its population. Gilead's announcement will give seven Indian manufacturers technical assistance, support to add more manufacturing facilities, and donations of the active pharmaceutical ingredients needed to make remdesivir. "The recent surge of Covid-19 cases in India is having a devastating impact on communities and has created unprecedented pressure on health systems," said Gilead's chief commercial officer, Johanna Mercier, in a statement. "We are committed to doing our part to help tackle this crisis." The company said that its seven licensees in India have been able to accelerate remdesivir production. Merck, for its part, said that in addition to signing agreements with the five Indian drugmakers, it had donated $5 million of oxygen-production equipment and other aid to India. Shares of Merck were flat in recent trading on Tuesday, while Gilead shares slipped 1.1%. |
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