Pfizer agrees to allow generic versions of its Covid pill in 95 countries

US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has signed a deal with a UN-backed group to allow generic manufacturers to make its experimental antiviral pill – a move that could make the treatment available to more than half of the world’s population.

A scientist develops Pfizer's experimental Covid-19 antiviral pills at a laboratory in Freiburg, Germany. Handout Pfizer/AFP

The voluntary licensing agreement between Pfizer and the the Geneva-based Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) will allow generic drug companies to produce the pill for use in 95 countries, treating an estimated 4 million people.

Many of the countries are lower and upper middle-income nations in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The pills are to be be under the brand name Paxlovid. They will be used in combination with ritonavir, an HIV drug that is already available generically. 

Fewer hospitalisations

Pfizer, which also makes one of the mostly widely used Covid vaccines, has said its clinical trial showed the pill would cut the chance of hospitalisation or death for adults at risk of severe disease by 89 percent.

"We are extremely pleased to have another weapon in our armoury to protect people from the ravages of Covid-19," Charles Gore, Executive Director of the Medicines Patent Pool, said in an interview.

Pfizer will waive royalties on sales in low-income countries. It will also waive them in the other countries covered by the agreement as long as Covid19 remains classified as a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization.

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However Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said it was "disheartened" by the deal because it was too restrictive and excluded countries such as Argentina and China, with established capacity for producing generic drugs.

Other health officials say the deal could help to end the pandemic quicker.

Drugmakers are expected to start producing the pill within months.

On Tuesday Pfizer asked the US Food and Drug Administration to authorise the pill.

(With wires)