Pfizer Inc. will sell nearly two dozen of its patent drugs and vaccines at charitable prices to some of the world’s poorest countries.
Under the program, Pfizer will begin shipping the drugs to Ghana, Malawi, Rwanda, Senegal and Uganda before the end of this year, Chief Executive Albert Bourla said in an interview.
The agreement means that some of the drugs, which have list prices in the US in the tens of thousands of dollars a year, would be significantly less available for low-income countries to buy, according to Pfizer.
The company said Wednesday it will also work with governments to improve their healthcare system infrastructure and remove regulatory and procurement barriers that often delay drug arrivals.
Subscribe to Newsletter
Coronavirus briefing and health week
Get a weekly briefing on the coronavirus pandemic and a health newsletter when the crisis subsides.
Overall, Pfizer plans to ship 23 drugs and vaccines for cancer, heart disease and autoimmune diseases — which the company says make up a majority of the patent-protected portfolio it sells without partners — to 45 low-income countries.
The initiative shouldn’t cost Pfizer much. Sales in developing countries in Africa and other emerging markets were approximately $8.4 billion in 2020, about a fifth of Pfizer’s total sales for the year.
It could offer long-term benefits to the industry and help create a potentially large new market for prescription drugs and vaccines. Businesses can also earn goodwill from employees for philanthropic efforts.
Pfizer’s effort is among the more ambitious yet undertaken by a major Western pharmaceutical company trying to expand access to cutting-edge medicines for people in poorer countries.
According to Pfizer, the initiative aims to expand access to the products to more than a billion people. Future patent-protected products will also be sold to the countries at non-profit prices, the company said.
Mihir Mankad, Senior Advocacy for Global Health Advocacy at Doctors Without Borders, said patents on the drugs already do not apply in many countries due to an exemption from the World Trade Organization.
Mr Mankad also raised concerns that the Pfizer deal could deter generic drug makers who might try to sell the drugs to the countries, saying the program’s success would depend on the prices Pfizer charges and whether the countries agree to purchase the drugs.
“It probably means there will be some minor improvements in access, but it can’t be transformative,” he said.
CEO Albert Bourla said Pfizer engineers and doctors would spend six to eight months abroad helping countries improve their healthcare systems.
Photo: Matthew Busch/Bloomberg News
Joia Mukherjee, chief medical officer at the nonprofit Partners in Health, said Pfizer’s program is not enough to address the problems of access to medicines in many countries.
“Although 45 countries can benefit, this is not a global strategy as a large proportion of the poor live in middle-income countries who will not have access. Long-term, generic and decentralized manufacturing is critical to achieving equity,” said Dr. Mukherjee.
Western drugmakers, including Pfizer, have sometimes agreed to sell certain HIV and other drugs at prices lower than they charge in the US and other affluent countries, or have arranged for other manufacturers to do so.
They have also sought to increase efforts to improve sales and distribution in low- and middle-income countries.
Some industry and global health officials have said that barriers beyond price, such as limited cold storage capacity and ill-equipped clinics, have helped limit access to medicines in poorer countries.
But drug costs also played a role, according to global public health advocates, especially in the first few years after a drug is on the market.
During the pandemic, Pfizer and other vaccine makers have faced criticism from global health advocates and officials in developing countries looking to improve their supply of Covid-19 vaccines.
Pfizer’s experience in distributing Covid-19 vaccines during the pandemic has helped advance the Accord for a Healthier World program, said Dr. bourla
The initiative expands the company’s efforts with partner BioNTech SE to expand access to its Covid-19 vaccine by selling it to low- and middle-income countries at cost.
The company would not have picked up efforts to improve health infrastructure, he said, if it hadn’t encountered countries with logistical problems in distributing shots and hesitations that hampered pickup.
Under Pfizer’s plans, the company’s engineers and doctors will spend six to eight months abroad to help countries improve their healthcare systems and infrastructure, said Dr. bourla
As part of the initiative, Pfizer plans to ship breast cancer drug Ibrance, lung cancer therapy Lorbrena and Vyndamax to treat a rare type of heart failure.
“If you have a drug, you can also take the extra step and find out which women have breast cancer,” he said.
Pfizer’s list price for a 21-day supply of 125mg Ibrance tablets is nearly $13,975 in the US, while a monthly supply of 100mg Lorbrena tablets is $18,675 and 61mg Vyndamax capsules cost $18,750, according to Rx Savings Solutions, which sells software to help US employers and health insurers choose the cheapest drugs.
Some of the drugs are already available in some countries, but most of the products are not yet available and Pfizer wants to help speed up access.
The program excludes Pfizer drugs that are part of joint ventures with other companies, as well as Pfizer’s injectable hospital treatments.
Pfizer announced the awards program at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The company also announced that it has received additional funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for late-stage testing of an experimental vaccine against group B streptococcus, a leading cause of stillbirth and neonatal mortality in low-income countries.
The foundation praised Pfizer’s awards initiative and said it will work with companies, governments and other partners to “address other important barriers to access beyond affordability and to advance equity in healthcare.”
According to a study by the nonprofit Center for Global Development, medicines can cost poor countries up to 20 to 30 times more than wealthier ones.
According to a 2016 study published in PLOS ONE, it typically takes four to seven years longer for essential medicines and vaccines to become available in low- and middle-income countries than in wealthier countries.
Once governments have approved the drugs for use, logistical and funding barriers often limit their access, studies have found.
The Omicron and BA.2 variants
write to Jared S. Hopkins at [email protected]
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8