Pfizer signs agreement to facilitate global access to its anticovid pill

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

Generic drug manufacturers that receive sublicenses will be able to offer the new drug in association with 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 one of the most effective vaccines against covid with the German group BioNTech, indicated that its oral antiviral PF-07321332 was 89% effective in preventing hospitalization or death among adults with an elevated risk of developing a severe form of the disease, based on 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.