Germany in talks with Pfizer and others on COVID medicines - minister

Germany is in negotiations with Pfizer about possibly buying its experimental antiviral pill to treat COVID-19, and is also talking to other companies that are developing promising medicines, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Friday.

"We're in talks with Pfizer, with MSD, also with all the others ... all those who have promising medicines," Spahn told a news conference in Berlin.

MSD is the name under which American Merck & Co Inc is known outside North America.