Merck shares rise after news of COVID-19 medicine

Shares of the pharmaceutical company Merck are gaining more than 8% at the end of the week after the company announced that it had developed an experimental drug that could significantly reduce the number of hospitalizations and deaths among people newly infected with coronavirus.

The company intends to request permission to use the drug in the United States and around the world in the near future. If approved, Merck tablets will be the first drug designed to treat COVID-19. And this is already a very big step forward in efforts to combat the global pandemic.

The first results presented by Merck and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics showed that patients receiving the drug Molnupiravir had approximately ½ fewer hospitalizations and deaths compared to patients who received a placebo. The study involved 775 adults with mild to moderate coronavirus.