American pharma giant Merck & Co said on Tuesday it had partnered with five Indian generic drugmakers, including Cipla Ltd and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd , to expand production and marketing of its experimental COVID-19 drug.

The partnership will give the companies license to supply Merck's molnupiravir to India and more than 100 low and middle-income countries following approvals or emergency authorization by local regulatory agencies, Merck said.

Merck said the move is to help address the raging second wave of COVID-19 in India. Merck's non-exclusive production pacts for molnupiravir are with companies including Dr.Reddy's Laboratories Ltd  and privately held companies Emcure Pharmaceuticals Ltd and Hetero Labs Ltd.

Molnupiravir is an antiviral therapy Merck is developing with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics for the treatment of non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Molnupiravir is being studied in a Phase 3 trial for the treatment of non-hospitalised patients with confirmed Covid-19. MSD is developing molnupiravir in collaboration with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, a note from the company said.

Merck Pharma is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Merck Sharp & Dohme, known as Merck & Co Inc in the US and Canada.

MSD has entered into these agreements to accelerate availability of molnupiravir in India and in other low- and middle-income countries after approvals or emergency authorisation are received from local regulatory agencies.

“The scale of human suffering in India at this moment is devastating, and it is clear that more must be done to help alleviate it. These agreements, toward which we have been working as we have been studying molnupiravir, will help to accelerate access to molnupiravir in India and around the world,” said Kenneth C Frazier, Chairman and CEO, Merck & Co Inc.

Parallelly, Merck & Co will also donate more than $5 million worth of oxygen-production equipment, masks, hand sanitiser and financial aid to support relief efforts in India, the company said.

According to market analysts Merck has decided to focus on its drugs for COVID-19 after two vaccines failed to generate desired immune responses, prompting it to abandon the program in January.

Meanwhile, drugmaker Gilead Sciences Inc  on Monday said it will give India at least 450,000 vials of its antiviral drug, remdesivir, and help boost production in the country.