On Feb. 8, 2022, Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics announced that a total of 3.1 million courses of molnupiravir, an investigational oral antiviral COVID-19 medicine, had been provided to the U.S. government for allocation across the country.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services created a public website to help providers identify locations that had received shipments of government-procured COVID-19 therapeutics available under Emergency Use Authorization. In 2021, Merck entered a procurement agreement with the U.S. government under which the company agreed to supply approximately 3.1 million courses of molnupiravir to the U.S. government upon Emergency Use Authorization or approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.