Pharmaceutical Merck said on Monday it would end the development of its two Covid-19 vaccines and focus pandemic research on treatments, with initial data on the effectiveness of an experimental oral antiviral expected in late March.
Merck said in a statement that it will record a pre-tax discontinuation fee in the fourth quarter for candidate vaccine V591, which it acquired with the purchase of Austrian vaccine manufacturer Themis Bioscience, and V590, developed with the non-profit research organization IAVI .
In the first tests, both vaccines generated lower immune responses than those seen in people who recovered from Covid-19, as well as those reported for other Covid-19 vaccines, the company said.
Merck was late to enter the race to develop a vaccine to protect against the coronavirus, which has already killed more than 2 million people and continues to increase in many parts of the world, including the United States.
In December, US regulators authorized Covid-19 vaccines from Moderna and its partners Pfizer and BioNTech, and tens of millions of doses of both have been administered globally so far. Competitors Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and others are also racing to develop safe and effective vaccines to protect against the virus.
Merck said it will focus Covid-19’s research and manufacturing efforts on two experimental 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 that is being studied in hospitals and outpatient clinics. Merck said a phase 2/3 trial of the drug is scheduled to end in May, but initial efficacy results are due in the first quarter and will be released if they are clinically significant.
Merck said the results of a phase 3 study of MK-7110, an immune modulator that is being studied as a treatment for patients hospitalized with severe Covid-19, are expected in the first trimester. In December, the company announced an agreement to supply MK-7110 to the US government for up to about $ 356 million.