MRK Merck and Co Inc

   By Micah Maidenberg 
 

Merck & Co. (MRK) said European regulators granted the company conditional approval to start marketing a vaccine that targets the Ebola virus.

The pharmaceutical company now has permission from the European Commission to begin producing doses of the vaccine, called Ervebo, in Germany.

The drug is expected to be available starting in the third quarter next year, Merck said Monday. The commission's decisions allows Merck to market the drug in the in the European Union, as well as in Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. Ervebo is for adults ages 18 and older.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is currently has the vaccine under priority review, with a target action date of March 14, 2020, Merck said.

Merck is also working with the World Health Organization, the U.S. government and others to provide an investigational vaccine for Ebola called V920. That drug is being used in to fight an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Write to Micah Maidenberg at micah.maidenberg@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 11, 2019 15:43 ET (20:43 GMT)

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