Countries Rush To Buy Antiviral COVID Pills

Jan 28 (Reuters) – Countries are scrambling to buy the antiviral pills developed by Merck and Pfizer for adult COVID-19 patients.

The European Medicines Agency on Jan. 27 gave the green light to use Pfizer’s antiviral COVID-19 pill for treating adults at risk of severe illness. The regulator expects to give a final ruling on Merck’s molnupiravir by the end of February.

On Friday, India’s Dr.Reddy’s Labs said it had started commercial production of a generic version of Merck’s treatment. Egypt, which approved Merck’s COVID pill on Jan. 25, said the drug will be produced locally.

(Reporting by Ina Kreutz, Agnieszka Gosciak and Federica Urso; Editing by Milla Nissi and Philippa Fletcher)