Merck & Co. Inc. and partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics said on Jan. 28 six lab studies showed their experimental oral COVID-19 drug molnupiravir was active against the fast-spreading Omicron variant.

Merck

Researchers studying Merck & Co. Inc.’s cancer drug Keytruda for HIV patients who also have cancer say the immunotherapy may help displace the virus from human immune cells, offering an intriguing area of study for treatment of chronic HIV infection.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a Complete Response Letter to Merck & Co. for the company’s New Drug Application for gefapixant for refractory chronic cough or unexplained chronic cough.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and White House chief medical advisor, said they expect the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will authorize the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children under the age of 5 years in the next month.

Nearly 30 generic drugmakers in Asia, Africa and the Middle East will make cheap versions of Merck & Co’s COVID-19 pill, under a landmark U.N.-backed deal to give poorer nations wider access to a drug seen as a weapon in fighting the pandemic.

Merck & Co. Inc. and partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP said on January 18 they had signed an agreement with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to supply up to 3 million courses of their COVID-19 antiviral pill.

Merck flag

Vancouver, Wash.-based Absci Corporation inked a research pact with Merck. Absci will leverage the company’s Bionic Protein non-standard amino acid technology and its artificial intelligence-powered integrated Drug Creation Platform to create enzymes to meet Merck’s biomanufacturing applications.

India approved Merck’s Covid-19 pill and two more vaccines for emergency use as the world’s second most populous country braces for a possible spike in coronavirus cases due to the rapidly spreading Omicron variant.

Molnupiravir – the main component in Merck and Ridgeback Therapeutics’ Covid-19 oral pill – might not be safe for use in pregnant women, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 

Merck announced a pause in enrollment for the IMPOWER 22 (MK-8591-022) and IMPOWER 24 (MK-8591-024) Phase 3 clinical studies evaluating investigational, once-monthly, oral islatravir (ISL) – a nucleoside reverse transcriptase translocation inhibitor – for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in people at high risk of HIV-1 infection.