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Merck Discontinues Development of SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 Vaccine Candidates

KENILWORTH, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced that the company is discontinuing development of its SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 vaccine candidates, V590 and V591, and plans to focus its SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 research strategy and production capabilities on advancing two therapeutic candidates, MK-4482 and MK-7110.

FILE PHOTO: A scientist is seen in the Themis Bioscience laboratory in Vienna, Austria, in this undated handout photo. Themis Bioscience/Martin Wacht/Handout via REUTERS /File Photo

This decision follows Merck’s review of findings from Phase 1 clinical studies for the vaccines. In these studies, both V590 and V591 were generally well tolerated, but the immune responses were inferior to those seen following natural infection and those reported for other SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 vaccines.