Britain in talks on new drugs but no specific news on Merck's COVID-19 pill

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FILE PHOTO: A view of the Merck & Co. campus in Linden, New Jersey March 9, 2009, after Merck & Co Inc said it would acquire Schering-Plough Corp in $41.1 billion deal, widening Merck’s pipeline and diversifying its portfolio of medicines. REUTERS/Jeff Zelevansky (UNITED STATES BUSINESS HEALTH)

LONDON (Reuters) – The chair of Britain’s antivirals taskforce declined to comment on talks over Merck & Co Inc’s experimental oral drug for COVID-19, molnupiravir, after trials showed it reduced the chance of hospitalisation or death for at-risk patients.

“We are involved in looking closely at all of the options available, but we’re really not in a position to give out the details around specific conversations at this moment in time,” Eddie Gray told reporters at a briefing about molnupiravir after trial results were published.

Asked when he could give more details, he said: “The emergence of phase three data tends to accelerate all processes of this type, but I couldn’t give you a specific date.”

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