U.S. government commits to purchase approximately 1.7 million courses of molnupiravir upon issuance of Emergency Use Authorization or approval by the FDA.- Merck Inc.

Merck is developing molnupiravir in collaboration with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. Through the agreement, if molnupiravir receives Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) or approval by the FDA, Merck will receive approximately $1.2 billion to supply approximately 1.7 million courses of molnupiravir to the United States government. Merck has been investing at risk to support development and scale-up production of molnupiravir and expects to have more than 10 million courses of therapy available by the end of 2021. Merck also plans to submit applications for emergency use or approval to regulatory bodies outside of the U.S. and is currently in discussions with other countries interested in advance purchase agreements for molnupiravir. Merck is committed to providing timely access to molnupiravir globally and intends to implement a tiered pricing approach based on World Bank data that recognizes countries’ relative ability to finance their public health response to the pandemic. If successful in clinical testing, molnupiravir has the chance to become the first oral COVID-19 treatment, an improvement over the injectable and infused medicines now available.