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MPP Facilitates Agreements With Seven Manufacturers For COVID-19 Antiviral

Agreement On Ensitrelvir With Shionogi Represents MPP’s First Deal With A Japanese Firm

 
• By Chloe Kent

The Medicines Patent Pool has facilitated sublicenses with seven manufacturers to distribute generic versions of Shionogi’s oral COVID-19 antiviral ensitrelvir across low- and middle-income countries.

Stack of pills on top of JPY10,000 note
Shionogi is the first Japanese firm MPP has struck a deal with • Source: Shutterstock

The Medicines Patent Pool has facilitated seven sublicence agreements for Japanese pharma firm Shionogi & Co. Ltd.’s Xocova (ensitrelvir fumaric acid), a COVID-19 antiviral. The drug was approved in Japan in November 2022 and is now being evaluated for approval in clinical trials outside of the country.

The sublicences will enable access to the drug across 117 low- and middle-income countries, pending approval in these locations. The head license agreement between MPP and Shionogi is the first agreement the public health organization has signed with a Japanese company

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