these products are still pipeline

[GoodTaste]

Q: How do these new agreements for Pfizer and Merck's pills compare?

A: This went very fast and it’s very important that the pool is able to negotiate these licenses while these products are still pipeline. You don’t know at that point whether a product indeed will become very important. You see that now with molnupiravir, which in the beginning looked very promising and now people are saying wow, there are problems with it. But it doesn’t matter. It’s in there. And if you have the licenses, you don’t create further delays. It will be more likely that generic companies will go for the Pfizer product than for molnupiravir I suspect.
Source: Science

Does "these products are still pipeline" mean "these products are still in pipeline" ("these products are still in the process of manufacturing or delivering")?

 

[emsr2d2]

The phrase is "still in the pipeline". If a product is still "in the pipeline", it usually means it's still only at the design/planning stage and that manufacture hasn't begun at all. That appears to be the case in that piece if you read the longer article.
I don't know why the author used "still pipeline". Perhaps it works in AmE. I note that the author is American.

 

[Tdol]

Still pipeline could easily be professional jargon, while common usage is still in the pipeline.