Five Chinese Pharmaceutical Companies Including Fosun And Borui Have Been Authorized to Imitate Merck's Covid-19 Oral Drug

Merck's covid-19 oral treatment can be copied.

On January 20, local time, the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) announced through its official website that it has signed agreements with 27 pharmaceutical companies to allow them to produce and supply Merck’s oral anti-new coronavirus drug Molnupiravir to 105 low- and middle-income countries or regions around the world. To promote affordability and accessibility of the drug globally.

Molnupiravir is an investigational oral form of nucleoside drug that works by interfering with virus replication, keeping virus levels in the body low, thereby reducing the severity of the disease. It was jointly developed by Merck and the biotech company Ridgeback. At present, the drug has received emergency use authorization from the US FDA for the treatment of mild to moderate new coronary pneumonia in high-risk adult patients.

Among the 27 companies that signed an agreement with MMP, 5 companies will focus on producing APIs, 13 companies will produce both APIs and finished medicines, and 9 companies will produce finished medicines. It is worth noting that five Chinese pharmaceutical companies, including Fosun Pharma, Borui Pharmaceutical, Shijiazhuang Longze Pharmaceutical, Shanghai Desano, and Langhua Pharmaceutical, are among them. The first four are licensed to produce both APIs and finished drugs. Langhua Pharmaceutical is licensed to manufacture APIs.

The licensed company has successfully demonstrated its ability to meet MPP's requirements for manufacturing capacity, regulatory compliance, and meeting international standards for quality-assured medicines, MPP said.

According to the official website, the Drug Patent Pool Organization is a public health organization supported by the United Nations, dedicated to increasing access to life-saving medicines and promoting drug development for low- and middle-income countries. To date, MPP has signed agreements with multiple patent holders covering 13 HIV antiretroviral drugs, one HIV technology platform, three hepatitis C direct-acting antiviral drugs, one tuberculosis treatment, two long-term effective technology, two experimental oral antiviral treatments for COVID-19, and a diagnostic test for COVID-19 antibodies.

In addition to signing a new crown oral drug related agreement with Merck, MPP also signed a related agreement with Pfizer on the new crown oral drug PAXLOVID. Pfizer has signed a voluntary license agreement with the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) to help expand its accessibility in 95 low- and middle-income countries, according to a press release published on Pfizer’s official website on January 18, local time. 53% of the world's population.