Gates Foundation aims to accelerate access to Covid-19 drug for lower-income countries

As part of its Covid-19 response effort, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Wednesday committed to providing up to $120 million to accelerate access to the investigational antiviral drug molnupiravir for lower-income nations.

Melinda French Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation, said "To end this pandemic, we need to ensure that everyone, no matter where they live in the world, has access to life-saving health products. The unjust reality, however, is that low-income countries have had to wait for everything from personal protective equipment to vaccines. That is unacceptable."

Gates Foundation, concerning those lower-income nations who are struggling to obtain Covid-19 vaccines and could be left behind once again when it comes to therapies, is calling on other donors to devote resources to accelerating the rollout of Merck's experimental molnupiravir if it's approved.

US-based pharmaceutical company Merck & Co.'s investigational pill for Covid-19 is expected to reach lower-income countries by early next year. The decision on whether to authorise the drug for use depends on regulatory agencies like the World Health Organization (WHO) and national governments.

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation, said, "Merck has taken important steps to make this drug available as a Covid-19 therapy, including negotiating licenses with generics manufacturers to increase supply. We are pleased to work alongside these efforts to ensure affordability and availability in lower-income countries."  

The Gates organisation said it aims to significantly reduce the time it takes for new drugs to arrive in low-income regions after they become available in wealthier markets. That gap can be at least 12 months, it said

The organisation has already provided funding to help strengthen generics manufacturers to develop low-cost manufacturing processes that dramatically reduce the cost of raw materials and increase product yields.

The funds, allocated based on consultations with partners, will assist generic-drug manufacturers. Some of these manufacturers, including Merck itself, have suggested that they could produce up to 10 million treatments a month.

"Today's commitment will ensure that more people in more countries get access to the promising drug molnupiravir, but it's not the end of the story—we need other donors, including foundations and governments, to act," Melinda Gates said.

Merck, in its initial data report, suggests that molnupiravir can cut the risk of serious disease and death due to Covid-19 by half. The company also claims that Molnupiravir would be the first oral outpatient drug authorised for use in treating Covid-19 patients with mild and moderate disease.

John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said, "Africa CDC and the Africa Union have been tracking the exciting developments on the antiviral, molnupiravir."

Some wealthy and middle-income countries like Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand have secured the treatment or started talks to obtain it.

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