Merck and Co Inc (MRK)

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Buy!buy!! Merck marking up the price of the pill forty times cost. Huge profits to be made.

A five-day course of Merck’s new Covid-19 pill costs $17.74 to produce, but the pharma firm will charge the USA $712.

The US government gave Merck some $29 million towards the development of molnupiravir, a drug that the company says “reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by approximately 50%” in clinical trials on Covid-19 patients. Despite this generous funding, Merck will still charge the federal government an estimated $712 for a five-day course of pills that costs $17.74 to produce, meaning the US taxpayer will pay for this fortyfold mark-up.