A lot of FUD going around with regards to the 2 indian drug manufacturers who stopped trials in patients with moderate disease. We are not sure about the kind of patients they picked and if they simply panicked when these patients with moderate disease who were hospitalized patients did not immediately improve. That is quite possible. It is very unlikely that Merck would take such a chance, when there is no need to do so. Read the Ridgeback and UNC paper on their Molnupiravir trial. The only death that occurred was one of the patients who had been administered a placebo. ALL of the patients on Molnupiravir were virus free by day 5, compared to 11.5% people who had virus even after day 5. There does not appear to be doubt about whether it works - safety also does not appear to be an issue.
This drug looks like it will be approved considering its effectiveness. You can bet Merck looked at all of the Ridgeback data intensely and minutely before deciding to go ahead. I think its great to get an opportunity to buy MRK below $80. The Acceleron acquisition is an added long term bonus. Merck is committed to making 10 million doses at $700 each, which is about $7B of highly profitable additional revenue.
It's a great buy.$Merck(MRK)$