Pfizer says its antiviral pill slashes risk of severe COVID-19 by 89%

Merck (MRK) and Ridgeback Announce Additional Purchase of 1.4M Courses of Molnupiravir by the US Government

November 9, 2021 6:04 AM EST

Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics today announced that the United States government will exercise two of its options to purchase a total of 1.4 million additional courses of molnupiravir, an investigational oral antiviral medicine, if the medicine is granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) or approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), for approximately $1 billion. With these exercised options, the U.S. government has now committed to purchase a total of approximately 3.1 million courses of molnupiravir, for approximately $2.2 billion, between authorization and... More

Merck (MRK) Acquisition of Acceleron Pharma Cleared by Antitrust Authorities in Germany and Austria

November 8, 2021 4:32 PM EST

Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced that its pending acquisition of Acceleron Pharma Inc. (Nasdaq: XLRN) has been cleared by the competition authorities in Germany and Austria.

As previously announced on October 12, 2021, Merck commenced, through a subsidiary, a cash tender offer to purchase all outstanding shares of common stock of Acceleron, for $180 in cash, without interest and less any required tax withholding. The receipt of antitrust clearance from the competition authorities in Germany and Austria satisfies one of the... More

Merck (MRK) ahead of Pfizer (PFE) in EU talks on COVID-19 pills -EU source - Reuters

November 8, 2021 11:15 AM EST

Merck (NYSE: MRK) ahead of Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) in EU talks on COVID-19 pills -EU source - Reuters

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Pfizer (PFE) considering allowing generic makers to produce pill - Bloomberg

November 5, 2021 2:23 PM EDT

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) considering allowing generic makers to produce pill - Bloomberg

says covid pill to cost less than Merck's (NYSE: MRK)... More

Pfizer's (PFE) COVID Pill Best in Class, Will Put Pressure on Merck (MRK) and Regeneron (REGN) - Analyst

November 5, 2021 8:47 AM EDT

(Updated - November 5, 2021 8:54 AM EDT)

Earlier today, Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) announced its investigational novel COVID-19 oral antiviral candidate, PAXLOVID, significantly reduced hospitalization and death, based on an interim analysis of the Phase 2/3 EPIC-HR study of non-hospitalized adult patients with COVID-19,... More

Mizuho Defends Merck (MRK) on Weakness Related to Pfizer's Antiviral Drug

November 5, 2021 8:32 AM EDT

Mizuho Securities analyst Mara Goldstein defended Merck (NYSE: MRK) following positive news on Pfizer's (NYSE: PFE) oral COVID-19 antiviral drug PAXLOVID.

The analyst commented, "Taken together, we see the weakness in MRK's shares outsize relative to the... More

Pfizer (PFE) Shares Surge 13% Following Game-Changing COVID-19 Pill Data, Merck (MRK) Down 9%; Analyst Sees Oral Antiviral Market Totaling 'Tens of Billion of Dollars Annually'

November 5, 2021 8:23 AM EDT

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) shares are up 13% in pre-open Friday after the company presented testing data of its COVID-19 oral antiviral treatment candidate Paxlovid.

Pfizer said that data showed Paxlovid cut the chances of hospitalization or death for adults at risk of developing the severe disease by 89%. The data surpassed results recorded by Mercks (NYSE:... More

Airlines, Reopening Stocks Surge Following Data From Pfizer (PFE) Antiviral Covid Pill

November 5, 2021 7:25 AM EDT

Airlines, Reopening Stocks Surge Following Data From Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) Antiviral Covid Pill

American Airlines (NASDAQ: AAL) +4..8%United Airlines (NASDAQ: UAL) +3.8%Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) +4.9%Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) +3.9%Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) +4.7%Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL) +4.8%Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE: NCLH) +5.8%
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