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.”
(Reporting by Alistair Smout; editing by James Davey)