Medicine maker Merck said Monday that the development of its two Covid-19 vaccines is coming to an end, and that pandemic research will focus on treatments, with initial efficacy data on an experimental oral antiviral drug expected by the end of March.
Merck said in a statement that it would file a pre-tax strike fee in the fourth quarter for vaccine candidate V591, which it acquired with the acquisition of Austrian vaccine manufacturer Themis Bioscience, and V590, which was developed with the nonprofit research organization IAVI.
In the early trials, both vaccines caused immune responses that were inferior to those seen in people recovering from Covid-19, as well as those reported for other Covid-19 vaccines.
Merck was too late to take part in the race to develop a vaccine to protect the coronavirus, which has so far killed more than 2 million people and is still alive in many parts of the world, including the United States.
U.S. regulators approved Covid-19 vaccines from Moderna and their partners Pfizer and BioNTech in December, and so far tens of millions of doses have been administered worldwide. Competitors Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and others are also rushing to develop safe and effective vaccines to protect against the virus.
Merck said it would focus Covid-19’s research and manufacturing efforts on two research drugs: MK-7110 and MK-4482, which he now calls molnupiravir.
Molnupiravir, developed in collaboration with Ridgeback Bio, is an oral antiviral drug that is being studied in the hospital as well as in the outpatient setting. Merck said a phase 2/3 study of the drug would be completed in May, but initial efficacy results are available in the first quarter and will be made public if clinically significant.
Merck said results from a phase 3 study of MK-7110, an immune modulator being studied as a treatment for patients hospitalized with severe Covid-19, are expected in the first quarter. In December, the company announced an agreement to supply MK-7110 to the US government for approximately $ 356 million.