Merck is pulling plugs on two potentials Vaccines for covid-19 after poor results in early-stage studies The drugmaker said on Monday that it will focus on studying two possible treatments for the virus that have not yet been approved by regulators.
Merck said its potential vaccines were well tolerated by patients, but they generated a lower immune system response compared to new vaccines from other competitors. Instead, the company is focusing its efforts on advancing clinical programs and manufacturing two potential treatment drugs for the virus: MK-7110 and MK-4482 (also known as molnupiravir. Molnupiravir is being developed in collaboration with Ridgeback Bio.
“We are firm in our commitment to contribute to the global effort to ease the burden of this pandemic on patients, healthcare systems and communities,” said Dr. Dean Y. Li, president of Merck Research Labs, in a statement.
Merck entered the race to fight COVID-19 later than other major pharmaceutical companies. She said last fall that she started early-stage research on volunteers on potential vaccines that only require one dose. The vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna were already in an advanced stage of research at that point.
The company’s shares fell 1% after the announcement on Monday morning.
The Food and Drug Administration allowed the emergency use of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines last year. Each requires two shots.
Since vaccines began in December, nearly 22 million doses have been delivered to people across the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A total of 3.2 million people in the United States received the two doses required for these vaccines.
Operating bending speed
The government is paying Merck about $ 356 million to accelerate the production of one of its potential treatments under Operation Speed Warp, an effort to develop vaccines and COVID-19 treatments.
The money will allow Kenilworth, New Jersey, to deliver up to 100,000 doses by June 30, if the FDA authorizes treatment for emergency use.
The treatment, known as MK-7110, has the potential to minimize the damaging effects of a hyperactive immune response to COVID-19, which can complicate the efforts of doctors and nurses to save lives. Data from the phase 3 study, according to a company press release, showed that the risk of death or respiratory failure in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 treated with a single dose of MK-7110 was reduced by more than 50% .
Meanwhile, molnupiravir, another treatment of the company that is still in clinical trials, is an oral drug that has the potential to prevent the spread of the virus by the community, suppressing the virus in the carrier.
“This drug may, in fact, be able to quickly block the transmission of an infected animal or patient to an uninfected contact or person,” Dr. Richard Plemper, who leads a research team of eight scientists from Georgia State University who study the drug, said Hayley Mason, of the CBS affiliate WGCL-TV. If approved by the FDA, the drug could be a “game changer,” said Plemper.