DAVOS, Switzerland — US pharmaceutical giant
Pfizer on Wednesday said it would sell its patented drugs on a not-for-profit
basis to the world’s poorest countries, as part of a new initiative announced
at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
اضافة اعلان
“The time is now to begin closing this gap” between
people with access to the latest treatments and those going without, chief
executive Albert Bourla told attendees at the exclusive Swiss mountain resort
gathering.
“An Accord for a Healthier World” focuses on five
areas: infectious diseases, cancer, inflammation, rare diseases and women’s
health — where Pfizer currently holds 23 patents, including the likes of
Comirnaty and Paxlovid, its COVID vaccine and oral treatment.
“This transformational commitment will increase
access to Pfizer-patented medicines and vaccines available in the US and the
EU to nearly 1.2 billion people,” Angela Hwang, group
president of the Pfizer Biopharmaceuticals Group, told AFP.
Five countries: Rwanda, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal, and
Uganda have committed to joining, with a further 40 countries — 27 low-income
and 18 lower-middle-income — eligible to sign bilateral agreements to
participate.
“Pfizer’s
commitment sets a new standard, which we hope to see emulated by others,”
Rwanda’s President
Paul Kagame said. But he added that “additional investments
and strengthening of Africa’s health systems and pharmaceutical regulators”
would also be needed.
Seven years behind
Developing countries experience
70 percent of the world’s disease burden but receive only 15 percent of global
health spending, leading to devastating outcomes. Across sub-
Saharan Africa,
one child in 13 dies before their fifth birthday, compared to one in 199 in
high-income countries.
Cancer-related mortality rates are also far higher
in low and middle-income countries — causing more fatalities in
Africa every
year than malaria. All this is set to a backdrop of limited access to the
latest drugs.
Essential medicines and vaccines typically take four
to seven years longer to reach the poorest countries, and supply chain issues
and poorly resourced health systems make it difficult for patients to receive
them once approved.
“The COVID-19 pandemic further highlighted the
complexities of access to quality healthcare and the resulting inequities,”
said Hwang. “We know there are a number of hurdles that countries have to
overcome to gain access to our medicines. That is why we have initially
selected five pilot countries to identify and come up with operational
solutions and then share those learnings with the remaining countries.”
‘Very good model’
Specifically, the focus will
be on overcoming regulatory and procurement challenges in the countries, while
ensuring adequate levels of supply from Pfizer’s side. The “not-for-profit”
price tag takes into account the cost to manufacture and transport of each
product to an agreed upon port of entry, with Pfizer charging only
manufacturing and minimum distribution costs. If a country already has access
to a product at a lower price tier, for example vaccines supplied by GAVI, a
public-private global partnership, that lower price will be maintained.
Hwang
acknowledged that even an at-cost approach could be challenging for the most
cash-strapped countries, and “this is why we have reached out to financial
institutions to brief them on the Accord and ask them to help support country
level financing.” Pfizer will also reach out to other stakeholders — including
governments, multilateral organizations, NGOs, and even other pharmaceuticals —
to ask them to join the Accord.
It is also using funding from the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to advance work on a vaccine against Group B Streptococcus (GBS),
the leading cause of stillbirth and newborn mortality in low-income countries.
“This type of accord is a very good model, it’s going to help get medicines
out,” Gates told the Davos conference, adding that “partnerships with companies
like Pfizer have been key to the progress we have made” on efforts like vaccines.
Read more Region and World
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
