Merck Sharp and Dohme and Ferring to develop drug for postpartum bleeding

Merck Sharp and Dohme has announced a new collaboration with Ferring Pharmaceuticals and the World Health Organization (WHO) to develop a new therapy for postpartum haemorrhage.

The organisations will join forces to produce a proprietary formulation of carbetocin – used to prevent excessive bleeding in women after childbirth – that will be stable at room temperature, even in hot and tropical climates.

This will make the therapy more accessible in developing nations, which struggle to handle the current standard medication, oxytocin, as it is temperature-sensitive and requires sustained cold distribution and storage in hot climates.

A multi-country clinical study to evaluate the effectiveness of room-temperature-stable carbetocin will be carried out by the WHO.

Kenneth Frazier, chairman and chief executive officer at Merck Sharp and Dohme, said: "It would be a real breakthrough to help prevent the number-one cause of women dying in childbirth in the most vulnerable parts of the globe."

This comes as part of Merck for Mothers, a ten-year project launched in 2011 to help ensure women worldwide are no longer at risk of dying from complications of pregnancy and childbirth.