Power Alley: Japan Agrees To Buy An Initial $1.2 Billion Of Merck's Molnupiravir

These are all vastly-post industrial economies, and they are buying the drug at around $890 to $1,000, per course of therapy. That's phenomenal news for Kenilworth, to be certain. And it also seems that all of the G7 nations are getting orders in early, so as not to be supply constrained, as their respective regulators clear the pill. And clear it, they will -- pretty shortly.

But as we've repeatedly indicated, the price in many of the less-developed economies will be perhaps one-one-hundredth of that amount. The current framework expects that 120 nations around the world will buy it under licenses, at essentially the cost to produce. Even so, this news is the third or fourth ultra-large purchase order, depending on how you count them (and these governments -- Japan and the Brits -- represent no counter-party risk):

. . . .Japanese government has agreed to procure about 1.6M courses of molnupiravir (MK-4482, EIDD-2801), the new oral COVID-19 pill. [S]ubject to Japanese regulatory clearance of the drug by Japan’s Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency, Merck will supply ~1.6M courses to Japan for about $1.2B inclusive of taxes. . . .

Merck’s application requesting authorization for molnupiravir is currently under the review, there. . . .

Onward, smiling -- out, into the steel and glass canyons, with sunshine glinting off most corner windows. . . .

नमस्ते