Good morning, everyone, and how are you today? A spot of snow is dusting the Pharmalot campus, but we are looking past the gray skies and pandemic gloom. After all, the glass is always half full, yes? As George Burns used to say, “I look to the future, because that’s where I’m going to spend the rest of my life.” So join us as we hoist a cup of stimulation to celebrate what lies ahead — our choice today is bananas Foster — and dig in to the list of interesting items below, too. Hope you have a splendid day and stay warm….
The Medicines Patent Pool has signed agreements with 27 generic manufacturers to make and supply the Covid-19 pill from Merck (MRK) to 105 low- and middle-income countries, Reuters notes. The sub-license deals stem from a voluntary licensing agreement the MPP, which is a public health organization backed by the United Nations, and the drug maker struck in October. A course of 40 pills for five days is expected to cost about $20 in poorer nations. That is far below the $700 per course the U.S. agreed to pay for an initial delivery of 1.7 million courses, but twice as high as first estimated by COVAX, the World Health Organization program for distributing Covid-19 vaccines to poor countries.
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