Taiwan inks deal for COVID-19 pills
ROC Central News Agency
11/10/2021 06:12 PM
Taipei, Nov. 10 (CNA) The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said Wednesday it had signed a letter of intent (LOI) to procure supplies of the oral antiviral drug molnupiravir, which has been touted as a highly effective COVID-19 treatment.
Under the LOI, Taiwan will purchase approximately 10,000 courses of molnupiravir from the drug's producer Merck, also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) outside the United States and Canada, CECC spokesman Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said at a daily press briefing.
Earlier the same day at a legislative meeting, Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) confirmed that the deal had been made, but he said he was not clear how much the drugs would cost.
Chen, who heads the CECC, told lawmakers that the CECC was considering purchasing another experimental COVID-19 drug, paxlovid, from Pfizer Inc.
According to the CECC, molnupiravir still needs to be granted emergency use authorization (EUA) by Taiwan's Food and Drug Administration before it can be used to treat patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 symptoms.
Neither the CECC nor Chen said when the first batch of molnupiravir would arrive in Taiwan. The CECC did say, however, that payment would be made only after the country took delivery of the drugs.
Originally developed by Merck in collaboration with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics as an influenza treatment, the oral antiviral drug molnupiravir has been shown to be a highly effective treatment for COVID-19, according to the CECC.
Merck submitted an EUA application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for molnupiravir in October, while last week the U.K. became the first country in the world to approve the use of the drug for treating COVID-19 patients.
(By Chiang Hui-chun and Teng Pei-ju)
Enditem/ASG
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