The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week authorised Merck’s antiviral COVID-19 pill for high-risk adult patients, a day after giving a broadergo-ahead to a similar but more effective treatment from Pfizer.
In the last week, Japan and India have also recommended approval of Merck’s experimental pill – which has already been approved in Britain, Denmark and the Philippines, among others while South Korea on Monday authorized Pfizer’s treatment for emergency use.
Merck has signed deals to sell about nine million courses of its treatment to governments around the world, but on Dec. 22France became the first country to publicly say it had cancelled its order following disappointing trial data. It hopes instead to receive Pfizer’s drug before the end of January.
In the European Union, both treatments are under review by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), though the regulator has said they can be used in adults ahead of any wider recommendation.
The following tables list countries that have expressed interest in Merck or Pfizer pills, sorted alphabetically:
| Merck pill | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| COUNTRY | VOLUME | PRICE | TIMING OF DELIVERY |
| Australia | 300,000 doses | ||
| Belgium | 10,000 doses | ||
| Canada | 500,000 courses | ||
| Indonesia | 600,000 – 1 million doses | December 2021 | |
| Italy | 50,000 courses | ||
| Japan | 1.6 million courses | $1.2 billion | |
| Malaysia | 150,000 courses | ||
| Philippines | 300,000 courses | P100-150 ($1.97-$2.96) per pill | November 2021 |
| South Korea | 200,000 courses | ||
| Switzerland | 8,640 doses | January 2022 “at the latest” | |
| Thailand | 200,000 courses | ||
| UK | 2.23 million courses | Early 2022 | |
| United States | 3.1 million courses | $700 per course | |
| Pfizer pill | |||
| COUNTRY | VOLUME | PRICE | TIMING OF DELIVERY |
| Australia | 500,000 courses | https://bit.ly/3BTUQeL | |
| Canada | 1 million doses | ||
| Israel | 100,000 courses | ||
| Italy | 50,000 courses | ||
| South Korea | 70,000 courses | ||
| UK | 2.75 million courses | Early 2022 | |
| United States | 10 million courses | $530 per course | By end-2021 |
— Reporting by Ina Kreutz, Agnieszka Gosciak and Federica Urso;Editing by Milla Nissi and Barbara Lewis
