Pharmaceutical Pfizer also shares the patents for its new corona pill so that others can produce the pill cheaply for poor countries. Competitor Merck has already done so.
The two companies have signed a deal with the so-called Medicines Patent Pool. It is an international organization supported by the United Nations.
Pfizer will not be reimbursed for the anti-Covid pill as long as the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) considers the coronavirus a state of emergency. The copied pill can be sold to 95 poor countries, where slightly more than half of the world’s population lives. The drug would otherwise be out of reach for them. Merck, which is active in Europe under the name MSD, has also agreed.
Pfizer’s (ritonavir) and MSD (molnupiravir) pills are intended for people who have just tested positive for the coronavirus. The resources should help prevent their complaints from getting so bad that they end up in a hospital or die. Molnupiravir is approved in the UK.
