Pfizer has announced that it will supply all of its current and future drugs and vaccines protected by nonprofit patents to 45 lower-income countries and is in talks with other major pharmaceutical manufacturers about similar steps.
Announcing an “agreement for a healthier world” at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, the New York-based pharmaceutical firm pledged to offer all its products that are available in the US and Europe at a cost of 1.2 billion. people from 27 low-income countries, such as Afghanistan and Ethiopia, as well as 18 low-income countries, including Ghana.
Pfizer had previously been accused of “pandemic use” of the huge benefits it has generated from coronavirus-related drugs over the past two years. It raised nearly $ 15 billion in sales in just three months from the Covid-19 vaccine it developed with BioNTech of Germany and its new Covid pill for people at high risk for serious illness.
“We live in a time when science is increasingly demonstrating the ability to take on the most devastating diseases in the world,” said Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer. “Unfortunately, there is a huge health equity gap in our world that determines which of us can use these innovations and which of us can’t.”
He told the WEF meeting in Switzerland: “I’m sure the other pharmaceutical companies will follow. I’ve talked to several CEOs and they want to be part of it. So there will be medicines, I hope, but it won’t be enough. We also have to work on the ground for diagnosis, treatment, and that is why we need the help of the WHO, Doctors Without Borders and many other organizations. ”
In Davos, George Poe Willliams, a nurse from Liberia, gave a “applause for the pharmaceutical benefits” in protest of the benefits of drug manufacturers, some of whom, including Pfizer, refuse to give up vaccine patents against Covid-19.
Williams said: “If I wanted to win what Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla won last year, I would have to work every day until 6100 AD. But what really makes me angry is that Bourla and many of his friends billionaires here at WEF are doing everything they can to block our patent exemption claims, just so they can make even more money. “
In Davos, George Poe Williams, a nurse from Liberia, protests against the benefits of drug manufacturers. Photo: Public Services International Global Union Federation
Bourla received $ 24 million in payments, benefits and stock options for 2021, when full-year profits more than doubled, 15% more than in 2020.
Pfizer said others would have trouble producing their mRNA vaccine, one of only two on the market, as it includes more than 280 materials from 86 suppliers in 19 countries. Moderna, who is making another Covid mRNA hit, has vowed not to enforce her coronavirus vaccine patents in some low- and middle-income countries.
Under its new initiative, Pfizer is working closely with health officials in Rwanda, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal and Uganda to provide expertise to support the diagnosis, education and training of doctors and nurses and infrastructure improvements. to ensure that all medicines and vaccines can reach those in the area. need. Lessons learned from these five countries will then be applied to deployment in the other 40 countries.
Next to Bourla was Rwanda President Paul Kagame, who said: “Fast and affordable access to the most advanced medicines and vaccines is the cornerstone of global health equity. Pfizer’s commitment under the agreement sets a new standard that we hope to see emulated by others. “
Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera described it as a “historic and unprecedented deal” that brings together decision-makers from governments, the private sector and civil society. “It’s not a delivery, it’s a real partnership” that puts “human progress ahead of business profits and political stance,” he said.
Pfizer is working with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop new products, such as vaccines to prevent the deadly group B streptococcus and the respiratory syncytial virus, which can be serious for children and the elderly.
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Also on the panel, Bill Gates said: “This kind of deal is a very good model, it will take drugs … Global health equity has advanced; we saw Covid, we’re not there.”
The co-founder of Microsoft told the WEF: “The situation in Ukraine is stretching the world’s resources and we see it in terms of resources for health and food, and the availability of fertilizers. The tragedy of the war goes a long way. “Beyond the battlefield. The pandemic was a setback, we now have more deaths from malaria than three years ago, the routine vaccination figures dropped a bit.”
The billionaire and philanthropist said the dream was to make a powerful vaccine against malaria, as the vaccine funded by the Gates Foundation and developed by GSK was too short in duration and protection.