The Chinese fought hard against COVID-19. Despite this and its Zero-COVID policy, the country is now in the grips of a COVID surge. That’s where pharmaceutical maker Merck (NYSE:MRK) stepped in, offering an oral treatment for COVID-19 that just got emergency use approval in China. Nevertheless, Merck is down in Friday afternoon trading.
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Merck’s new treatment, molnupiravir—more commonly known by its brand name Lagevrio—landed a kind of emergency use authorization from the National Medical Products Administration in China. The authorization comes with a wide range of conditions, though; Merck will have to carry on with its research and submit its findings as they’re available.
This is the second foreign treatment that China has turned to in order to address its surging case numbers; a few months back, China gave a fuller nod to Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and its Paxlovid treatment. Interestingly, when Paxlovid hit shelves on one Chinese platform, available doses of Paxlovid sold out in less than an hour. Reports note that Chinese citizens are already turning to black-market sources in order to find COVID-19 medications or their generic equivalents meant for less developed nations.
Despite the odd turn that represents a share price drop as a major new market is about to open, Merck is still prized among analysts. Currently, analyst consensus calls Merck a Strong Buy. It also has 4.03% upside potential thanks to its average price target of $114.80.
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