WHO-Led Program Intends To Purchase Oral COVID-19 Antivirals For $10, Including Merck's: Reuters - Merck & Co (NYSE:MRK)

A World Health Organization-led program for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments aims to secure antiviral drugs for patients with mild symptoms for $10 per course, according to a draft document seen by Reuters.
Merck & Co Inc's MRK experimental pill molnupiravir is likely to be one of the drugs.
Related: Merck Inks Supply Pact With Singapore For Its Oral COVID-19 Antiviral: Reuters.
The document outlines the goals of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) until September next year.
The WHO program wants to deliver about 1 billion COVID-19 tests to poorer nations and procure drugs to treat up to 120 million patients globally, out of about 200 million new cases it estimates in the next 12 months.
The ACT-A asks the G20 and other donors for additional funding of $22.8 billion until September 2022, needed to buy and distribute vaccines, drugs, and tests to poorer nations. Donors have so far pledged $18.5 billion to the program.
More significant additional amounts of new oral antivirals to treat mild patients are also expected to be procured at a later stage, the document says.
The document also says that another 4.3 million courses of repurposed COVID-19 pills to treat critical patients are also expected to be purchased at $28 per course without naming any specific drug.
Price Action: MRK shares are up 2.68% at $79.20 during the premarket session on the last check Tuesday.
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