Merck & Co says it is ending development of two potential COVID-19 vaccines following poor results in early-stage studies.
The drugmaker said on Monday that it will focus instead on studying two possible treatments for the virus that also have yet to be approved by regulators.
The company said its vaccine candidates, V590 and V591, were ‘well tolerated’ by patients, but they generated an ‘inferior’ immune system response compared with other vaccines or natural infection.
‘We are grateful to our collaborators who worked with us on these vaccine candidates and to the volunteers in the trials,’ Dr Dean Y Li, president of Merck Research Laboratories said in a statement.
‘We are resolute in our commitment to contribute to the global effort to relieve the burden of this pandemic on patients, health care systems and communities.’
However, the company still plans to submit results from its clinical trial for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
FILE- This May 1, 2018, file photo shows Merck corporate headquarters in Kenilworth, N.J. The drugmaker will stop developing two potential COVID-19 vaccines after seeing poor results in early-stage studies. The company said Monday, Jan. 25, 2021, that it will focus instead on studying two possible treatments for the virus that also have yet to be approved by regulators. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
Merck was developing one of the potential vaccines with France’s Pasteur Institute based on existing measles and Ebola vaccines.
The French institute said it will keep working on two other vaccine projects using different methods.
Merck entered the race to fight COVID-19 later than other top drugmakers.
Last fall, the firm said it had started early-stage research in volunteers on potential vaccines that require only one dose, different from.
At that point, vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna – each of which require two doses – were already in late-stage research.
Within a few months, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency use of both two-dose shots.
However, the rollout of these vaccine have moved at a sluggish pace, especially as new mutant variants popped up around the world, including in the UK, South Africa and Brazil.
Since vaccinations began in December, nearly 22 million doses have been delivered to people nationwide and nearly six percent of the population has received at least one dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A total of 3.2 million people, or one percent of the population, have received both doses required for those vaccines.
The government is paying Merck about $356 million to fast-track production of one of its potential treatments under Operation Warp Speed, a push to develop COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.
The money will allow the Kenilworth, New Jersey-based company to deliver up to 100,000 doses by June 30, if the FDA clears the treatment for emergency use.
The treatment, known as MK-7110, has the potential to minimize the damaging effects of an overactive immune response to COVID-19. This immune response can complicate the life-saving efforts of doctors and nurses.
Nearly 22 million doses have been delivered to people nationwide and nearly six percent of the population has received at least one dose (above)
Merck said early results from a late-stage study of that drug showed a more than 50 percent reduction in the risk of death or respiratory failure in patients hospitalized with moderate or severe COVID-19.
The company expects full results from that study in the first quarter.
Merck’s other potential treatment is an oral antiviral drug to give to patients in the early stage of their illness.
The company also expects to see early results from mid-to-late-stage research on this drug in May.
Chief Marketing Officer Michael Nally told Bloomberg that Merck expects to produce more than 20 million courses of the drug, which patients will take twice a day for five days.