On Jan. 18, 2022, Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics announced the signing of a long-term supply agreement with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to facilitate broad global access for molnupiravir, an investigational oral antiviral COVID-19 medicine.

Under the agreement, Merck was to allocate up to 3 million courses of molnupiravir to UNICEF throughout the first half of 2022 for distribution in more than 100 low- and middle-income countries following regulatory authorizations. Merck was developing molnupiravir in collaboration with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics and it had been authorized for use in more than 10 countries, including in the United States, United Kingdom and Japan.