Reuters reports that Merck has signed eight deals to sell more than a total of 2 million courses of its experimental COVID-19 pill molnupiravir to governments around the world.

It has applied for approval in the United States and said it can make 10 million courses in 2021. A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee is scheduled to evaluate the safety and efficacy data of the pill on Nov. 30 and decide whether or not to approve it for emergency use authorization in the U.S.

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.

Merck CEO Robert Davis told CNBC on Thursday the drugmaker is ready to produce and distribute tens of millions of doses of its Covid antiviral pills if given regulatory approval.

The Merck pill forces the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus to mutate itself to death. The drug tricks the virus into using the drug for replication, then inserting errors into the virus’ genetic code once replication is underway. When enough copying errors occur, the virus is essentially killed off, unable to replicate any further.

But according to an article in Forbes the drug raises two key concerns. The first is the drug’s potential mutagenicity, and the possibility that its use could lead to birth defects or cancerous tumors. The second is a danger that is far greater and potentially far deadlier: the drug’s potential to supercharge SARS-CoV-2 mutations and unleash a more virulent variant upon the world.

The company claims the antiviral pill it’s developing can cut hospitalizations and deaths among people with COVID-19 by half. The results haven’t yet been peer reviewed. But if the drug candidate is authorized by regulators, it would be the first oral antiviral treatment for COVID-19. By contrast, the other currently authorized drugs must be delivered intravenously or injected.

A pill could make treating patients earlier on in their infection much easier – and more effective. It could also keep hospitals from overflowing, especially in places where vaccination rates are still low.

The other therapies on offer against COVID-19, Gilead Science’s antiviral remdesivir and a monoclonal antibody cocktail from biotech firm Regeneron, must be administered intravenously or by injection. That makes it difficult for people to access the therapies before they are sick enough to land in hospital. And remdesivir is approved only for those who are already hospitalized with COVID-19.

Molnupiravir was so effective in a phase 3 trial involving COVID-19-positive people at risk of severe illness that clinicians halted enrollment early.