Toronto 
Merck Canada announced it would manufacture Molnupiravir in Whitby for global distribution.
Credit: Merck Canada
Molnupiravir is Merck’s investigational oral antiviral medicine for the treatment of COVID-19.
Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, has entered into an agreement with Thermo Fisher and the pill will be manufactured at its site in Whitby, Ontario for distribution in Canada and the United Kingdom as well as markets in the European Union, Asia Pacific and Latin America, pending local market approvals.
Whitby location is one of three manufacturing sites in the world for this therapy.
“Today’s announcement is yet another demonstration of the success of our efforts to rebuild Canada’s biomanufacturing and life sciences sector brick by brick and attract significant
investments,” said the minister of innovation, Science and Industry François-Philippe Champagne. “This partnership will create good jobs for Canadians, secure domestic supply chains for medications, and make sure we’re better prepared for future health emergencies.’’
According to the news release, Merck and Ridgeback’s investigational oral antiviral molnupiravir reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by approximately 50 percent compared to placebo for patients with mild or moderate Covid-19 in positive interim analysis of phase 3 study.
In August, Merck Canada initiated a rolling submission for molnupiravir to Health Canada.
Merck also announced on December 3, 2021, that it has entered into a Supply Agreement with the Government of Canada for 500,000 patient courses of molnupiravir, with options for up to 500,000 more in 2022.
