Pfizer set to allow cheaper versions of its Covid-19 pill to improve access
- Pfizer has been under considerable pressure to license the technology ever since it announced promising clinical-trial results earlier this month
- It will not receive royalties from sales in low-income nations, and will not get royalties from sales to middle-income countries covered by the pact
In a statement on Tuesday, Pfizer said it has signed an agreement with the United Nations-backed Medicines Patent Pool to license the experimental pill, once it is authorised by regulators, to generic companies that can supply it to countries that account for roughly 53 per cent of the world population. The shares fell 1 per cent in pre-market US trading.
Pfizer will not receive royalties from sales in low-income countries, and will not get royalties from sales to middle-income countries covered by the pact as long as Covid-19 is classified as a public-health emergency, according to the statement.
The widely awaited deal could help bolster access to a potent new virus-fighting tool. Unlike the exotic mRNA technology in Pfizer’s Covid-19 shot, the chemical techniques used to manufacture pills are mature and long-established, and numerous generic companies can cheaply produce them.
Pfizer has been under considerable pressure to license the technology ever since it announced promising clinical-trial results earlier this month.
The sooner we can get it out there, the more people who will not need to go to the hospital and will not die