Pfizer signs agreement to facilitate global access to its pill against Covid-19

Pfizer signed a voluntary license agreement that should allow access to its anti-Covid pill beyond rich countries once it has been authorized, the US pharmaceutical giant and the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) announced on Tuesday.

Manufacturers generic drugs “that receive sublicenses will be able to offer the new drug in association with the ritonavir (used against the AIDS virus) in 95 countries, which cover about 53% of the world’s population, “said a spokesman for Unitaid, which created MPP, during a meeting with the UN press in Geneva.

At the beginning of November, Pfizer, which already markets with the German group BioNTech one of the most effective vaccines against Covid-19, indicated that its oral antiviral PF-07321332 was 89% effective in preventing hospitalization or death among adults who are at high risk of developing a severe form of the disease, according to intermediate results of clinical trials.

With this agreement, Pfizer is moving along the same path as its competitor Merck, which signed a similar agreement with MPP for its own oral anticovid, molnupiravir, which also exhibits a strong efficacy rate.

These promising results have yet to be confirmed, said Esteban Burrone, MPP’s policy maker, in an interview with AFP. But if they are validated, availability “will be a matter of months and not years,” he said.