France Cancels Molnupiravir Order Amid Disappointing Trial Data; UK Expands Purchase

Source: PharmaCube Info

On December 22, the French health authorities announced the decision to cancel the order of 50,000 doses of Merck's COVID-19 oral drug Molnupiravir due to unsatisfactory clinical data recently disclosed. However, France is expected to receive Pfizer’s oral COVID-19 drug Paxlovid by the end of January next year.

Interestingly, on the same day, MSD announced that the UK government would purchase an additional 1.75 million doses of molnupiravir, bringing the total to 2.23 million doses. Prior to this, the US had already placed an order with MSD for 3.1 million doses of molnupiravir, and Japan for 1.6 million doses.

Molnupiravir is a nucleoside analog discovered by DRIVE, a non-profit organization affiliated with Emory University. It can inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication with an activity 3-10 times higher than Remdesivir, demonstrating good efficacy in multiple preclinical models for the prevention, treatment, and blocking transmission of SARS-CoV-2 infections. This product is co-developed by MSD and Ridgeback. According to the agreement, Ridgeback is entitled to receive an upfront payment from MSD as well as clinical development and registration milestone payments. The two companies will equally share the profits from drug sales in the future.

On October 1, MSD announced the interim results of the Phase III clinical trial of molnupiravir, showing a 50% reduction in the risk of hospitalization or death in non-hospitalized patients. As the first oral COVID-19 drug to announce Phase III results, this news caused a sensation worldwide. However, on November 26, the latest clinical data of molnupiravir released by MSD showed that the risk of hospitalization or death in non-hospitalized patients was reduced to 30%.