South Korea Secures Purchase Of 20,000 COVID-19 Antivirus Pills Made By Merck

SEOUL - South Korea secured the purchase of 20,000 COVID-19 antiviral pills developed by Merck & Co, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said.

Thus, South Korea became one of a number of Asian countries rushing to save the supply of the drug.

"We have prepared sufficient budget for the treatment of about 40,000 people and have signed a pre-purchase contract for 20,000 pills," Kim said during a COVID-19 response meeting, quoted by Antara, Wednesday, October 6.

South Korea also intends to buy other antiviral drugs, Kim continued.

Merck on Wednesday also announced a purchase and supply contract with Singapore after reaching a similar agreement with Australia.

Meanwhile, Thailand and Malaysia, as well as Taiwan, said they were in talks to buy the pill.

Molnupiravir is claimed to reduce the risk of death or hospitalization for people most at risk of severe COVID-19 infection.

Merck is seeking a license for use from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its pills.

The treatment involved patients taking four pills twice a day for five days.

Merck admits that it plans a tiered pricing approach based on state revenue criteria. The US government has made a purchase contract for 1.7 million dose packages with 700 US dollars (approximately Rp. 9.9 million) per package.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KDCA) said it was in talks with Pfizer and Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG, which are also racing to develop an antiviral pill for COVID-19 that is easy to administer to patients.

The South Korean government has allocated 30.31 million US dollars (approximately Rp.432 billion) to secure supplies of oral antiviral pills to treat COVID-19.