(Antigua Observer) Prime Minister Gaston Browne will write to the UK government today asking Britain to earmark a portion of the Merck Covid-19 antiviral pills for Caricom countries.
Britain granted conditional authorisation last Thursday for the world’s first pill designed to treat symptomatic Covid-19.
Developed by the US drug companies Merck, Sharp and Dohme (MSD) and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, it is the first antiviral medication for Covid which can be taken as a pill rather than injected or given intravenously.
The UK has agreed to purchase 480,000 courses with the first deliveries expected in November.
“On Monday I will be writing to the United Kingdom to ask them to secure some of the Merck pills for Caricom countries because they recently approved it,” Browne said on Saturday.
