Gates Foundation Commits $120 Million To Support Access To New Covid Pill

The money from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation would be used to encourage the production of generic forms of the drug by other companies, especially in India, to which Merck has already granted such licenses.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced an investment of up to $120 million in an effort to speed up low-income countries' access to a new anti-Covid drug.

The treatment, a pill called molnupiravir developed by US lab Merck, reduces the risk of hospitalization by half in COVID-19 patients who take it in their first few days of infection, the company has said and could be even more effective at preventing deaths from the virus. 

The money from the Gates Foundation would be used to encourage the production of generic forms of the drug by other companies, especially in India, to which Merck has already granted such licenses. 

"This commitment builds on the foundation's ongoing efforts... to increase access to COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, and tests by supporting R&D, regulatory work, at-risk manufacturing, and product delivery," the foundation said in a statement Wednesday.