[ti:US Drug-maker to Share Its COVID-19 Pill with Poor Countries]
[by:www.21voa.com]
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[00:00.04]American drug-maker Merck
[00:02.32]has agreed to let some companies
[00:04.80]produce its experimental COVID-19 pill.
[00:09.64]The move, announced Wednesday by a health organization
[00:13.84]supported by the United Nations, is aimed
[00:17.16]at helping people in poorer countries to get the drug.
[00:22.68]The Medicines Patent Pool, or MPP, said in a joint statement
[00:29.00]that the agreement will make the drug molnupiravir available
[00:33.44]"in 105 low- and middle-income countries."
[00:39.28]The drug also will need approval from local health officials.
[00:45.48]Under the agreement, the health agency is permitted
[00:49.36]to license qualified companies to manufacture the antiviral drug.
[00:56.36]Merck and its partners, Ridgeback Biotherapeutics
[01:00.80]and Emory University in Georgia, will not receive money
[01:05.40]for sales of molnupiravir as long as the World Health Organization
[01:10.84]considers COVID-19 a "Public Health Emergency of International Concern."
[01:18.88]In early October, Merck reported that its experimental pill
[01:23.68]reduced hospitalizations and deaths by half
[01:27.64]among people infected with COVID-19 in a drug trial.
[01:33.20]The company is asking health officials in the United States
[01:37.76]and around the world to approve the pill
[01:40.96]for treatment of coronavirus infections.
[01:45.84]Pfizer and Roche, two other drug companies,
[01:49.56]are also working on similar COVID-19 pills.
[01:55.16]But molnupiravir could be the first pill approved
[01:58.92]for the treatment of COVID-19.
[02:02.52]A pill can be taken at home
[02:05.20]and is easier to send around the world.
[02:09.76]All other approved COVID-19 treatments
[02:13.60]must be injected by healthcare workers.
[02:19.08]Charles Gore is the Executive Director of MPP.
[02:24.76]He said early results of the drug were "compelling."
[02:30.04]Gore said the pill is an "important tool"
[02:33.48]to help deal with the current health crisis.
[02:38.40]He said he hoped the agreement will lead to others.
[02:44.20]The non-profit group Doctors Without Borders,
[02:47.56]also known as MSF, welcomed the agreement
[02:51.76]to share Merck's COVID-19 pill.
[02:56.08]But it said the license "doesn't go far enough."
[03:01.32]Yuanqiong Hu is a senior legal and policy adviser with MSF.
[03:08.68]She said the license does not include nearly half
[03:12.68]of the world's population in countries like Brazil and China.
[03:19.28]The two also have "strong, established capacity
[03:23.84]to produce and supply antiviral medicines."
[03:28.80]Hu noted the license would also limit "the production
[03:32.80]and supply of more affordable and available generic molnupiravir."
[03:39.56]Merck said earlier that it could produce
[03:42.32]10 million treatments of the pill this year.
[03:46.64]The treatment requires two pills a day for five days.
[03:52.68]The U.S. has already purchased
[03:55.36]1.7 million treatments at the cost of $700 each.
[04:02.08]The company is also working with several Indian companies
[04:06.56]to license cheaper, generic versions of molnupiravir
[04:11.20]for low- and middle-income countries.
[04:15.56]Researchers at Harvard University's T.H. Chan School of Public Health
[04:21.40]estimated that a generic version
[04:24.00]could cost less than $20 for each treatment.
[04:29.56]Last week, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
[04:33.88]announced that it would spend up to $120 million
[04:38.56]to help develop generic versions of molnupiravir.
[04:44.44]"To end this pandemic, we need to ensure that everyone,
[04:48.88]no matter where they live in the world,
[04:51.32]has access to life-saving health products,"
[04:55.08]said Melinda French Gates,
[04:57.04]co-chair of the Gates Foundation, in a statement.
[05:01.88]I'm Jonathan Evans. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM