(Reuters) – Pharmacist Merck & Co said on Monday it would stop developing the two COVID-19 vaccines and focus on pandemic research on treatments, with initial data on an experimental oral antiviral expected by the end of March.
Merck has been slow to join the race to develop a vaccine to protect against coronavirus, which has so far killed more than 2 million people and continues to grow in many parts of the world, including the United States.
The company will register a pre-tax break in the fourth quarter for vaccine candidate V591, which it acquired with the acquisition of Austrian vaccine maker Themis Bioscience and V590, developed in conjunction with the nonprofit research organization IAVI, Merck said in a statement. a statement.
In early studies, both vaccines generated immune responses that were lower than those seen in people recovering from COVID-19, as well as those reported for other COVID-19 vaccines, the company said.
The announcement is an obstacle in the fight against the pandemic and comes a month after Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline delayed the launch of their fire until the end of 2021, highlighting the challenges of developing vaccines at a record speed.
Tens of millions of doses of vaccines from rivals Pfizer Inc. and German partner BioNTech, as well as from Moderna Inc. have so far been administered globally.
Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca Plc and others are also fighting to develop safe and effective vaccines to protect against the virus.
Merck said it would focus its research and production efforts on COVID-19 on two investigational drugs: MK-7110 and MK-4482, which it now calls molnupiravir.
Molnupiravir, which is being developed in collaboration with Ridgeback Bio, is an oral antiviral studied in both hospitals and outpatients.
Merck said a phase 2/3 study of the drug should be completed in May, but the initial efficacy results were due in the first trimester and will be made public if they are clinically significant.
Merck said the results of a phase 3 study of MK-7110, an immune modulator studied as treatment for hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19, were expected in the first trimester.
Merck shares fell 1% to $ 80.12 in pre-bell trading.
Reporting by Deena Beasley and additional reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Edited by Shri Navaratnam and Anil D’Silva