Molnupiravir
Study Papers
Molnupiravir: coding for catastrophe
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41594-021-00657-8
Mechanism of molnupiravir-induced SARS-CoV-2 mutagenesis
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41594-021-00651-0
In the USA, Molnupiravir will sell for around US$700 per treatment (a five day course)((How Merck is Pricing it’s Covid-19 Pill Molnupiravir Globally)). According to Quartz, Molnupiravir could earn Merck as much as $7 billion in revenue by the end of this year. As reported in Business Insider, it’s set to be Merck’s top-selling product:
Analysts expect molnupiravir to turn into a top-selling drug for Merck. The Bernstein analyst Ronny Gal projected in an October 6 research note that Merck will make $5.3 billion in 2022 sales for the drug, with about 80% of that coming from the US market. Gal forecasted $22 billion in total molnupiravir revenue for Merck through 2030.
How Merck Is Pricing It’s Covid-19 Pill Molnupiravir Globally
It’s reported that a course of Molnupiravir costs Merck around ~$17 (USD) to make. Some people question the huge profit margins, although it’s actually quite normal for brand name drugs to sell with massive profit margins. The manufacturers obviously want to recover their development costs as quickly as possible, and to then start reaping profits. In the case of Molnupiravir . Another common practice is that brand name drugs will sell at much higher prices in more affluent countries over less affluent countries. That is a normal and accepted business practice in the pharmaceutical industry. Another issue some people raise regarding Molnupiravir is that its development was funded through Government funding (tax-payer money)((Merck Sells Federally Financed COVID Pill to U.S. for 40 Times What It Costs To Make)). This too is a very common practice, and is not especially a discredit to Merck.
What is a potential issue, and conflict of interest, is Merck coming out in 2021 stating Ivermectin has no known therapeutic effect with Covid-19 disease, and (perhaps more bizarrely) that there is “A concerning lack of safety data in the majority of studies“. As shown on the Ivermectin page, this drug has a long and well established track record for its safety.