Merck & Co has signed a licensing agreement with the United Nations-backed Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) that will allow more companies to manufacture generic versions of its experimental oral antiviral Covid-19 treatment, the US drugmaker and the organisation announced on Wednesday.

Merck said the royalty-free licence would apply to 105 low- and middle-income countries. It allows manufacturers selected by MPP to make generic versions of molnupiravir, the antiviral pill Merck has developed with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics.

The US Food and Drug Administration is considering...