Merck & Co shares down on news of halt to HIV trials

14 December 2021

US pharma giant Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) was trading more than 1% lower in pre-market trading on Tuesday.

The previous evening Merck had announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had placed clinical holds on investigational new drug applications for the HIV candidate islatravir.

"Merck continues to investigate the potential of islatravir and nucleoside reverse transcriptase translocation inhibitors and remains committed to helping to address unmet needs in HIV treatment and prevention"These applications are for the oral and implant formulations of islatravir for HIV-1 pre-exposure prophylaxis, the injectable formulation for HIV-1 treatment and prophylaxis and oral doravirine/islatravir as an HIV-1 once-daily treatment.

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