Merck Halts Development of MK-7110 for COVID-19

Merck announced that it will end research and development on MK-7110, an experimental oral drug for treatment of hospitalized coronavirus patients that had shown promise in a late-stage trial.

The pharma titan said last week that it would drop its efforts on the drug — which it obtained through a $425 million acquisition of OncoImmune in November 2020 — after the FDA said it would need to see additional data beyond OncoImmune’s study to potentially grant Emergency Use Authorization.

Merck had said in March that it would launch a phase 3 trial for the drug but has now said the study will not go ahead.

“Based on the additional research that would be required — new clinical trials as well as research related to manufacturing at scale — MK-7110 would not be expected to become available until the first half of 2022,” Merck said.