US pharmaceutical company Merck & Co Inc (NYSE:MRK) has signed eight deals to sell in total more than two million courses of its experimental COVID-19 pill, molnupiravir, to governments around the world, Reuters news agency reported on Wednesday.

This pill is developed by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP.

Countries Merck has signed the deals with include Australia for 300,000 doses, France for 50,000 doses, Indonesia, Malaysia for 150,000 courses, Philippines for 300,000 courses, Singapore , South Korea for 20,000 courses, Thailand for 200,000 courses and the US for 1,700,000 doses.

Merck has applied for approval in the United States and has said it can make 10 million courses in 2021.

Also, last week the company reached a deal with the United Nations-backed Medicines Patent Pool that will allow more companies to manufacture generic versions of the pill with a royalty-free license applying to 105 low- and middle-income countries.

So far, Merck has agreed to license the drug to several India-based generic drugmakers.