The head of India’s main medical research agency said there were “major safety concerns” over Merck & Co.’s Covid-19 drug that may impede its addition to the country’s viral treatment list.
Even though India’s drug regulator last week approved Merck’s molnupiravir for emergency use, Balram Bhargava, the director general of the state-funded Indian Council of Medical Research, said the government has yet to decide on whether to recommend molnupiravir, even as coronavirus infection rates in the country soar to more than 90,000 a day -- the highest level since mid-June.
