Deal Will Bring Pfizer's COVID Pill to Half the World

Pfizer is teaming up with Medicines Patent Pool, a nonprofit based in Geneva and backed by the UN, to bring its new COVID pill to poorer countries. They’ll work with about a dozen manufacturers of generic drugs to bring affordable access to the pill, once it's approved, to 95 countries, the New York Times reports. The pill, which Pfizer will sell under the name Paxlovid, proved effective in preventing severe COVID in unvaccinated volunteers in a clinical trial. The deal opens up access to the treatment to much of Asia and Africa—more than half the world's population, the AP reports. Pfizer isn’t extending the deal to Brazil, which has been hit hard by the pandemic, Cuba, Iraq, Libya, China, and Russia.

The five-day course of treatment includes 10 pills of an HIV drug called ritonavir, but experts aren’t forecasting any problems with access to that drug. “It’s quite significant that we will be able to provide access to a drug that appears to be effective and has just been developed, to more than 4 billion people,” Esteban Burrone, head of policy at the Medicines Patent Pool, said. Pfizer won’t be collecting royalties on sales in countries that are part of the agreement during the COVID-19 pandemic. The deal is similar to one Merck struck licensing its antiviral molnupiravir. (More COVID-19 stories.)