November 16, 2021 – Pfizer Inc. and the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), a United Nations-backed public health organization working to increase access to life-saving medicines for low- and middle-income countries, have signed a voluntary license agreement for Pfizer’s COVID-19 oral antiviral treatment candidate, which is administered in combination with low dose ritonavir.
The agreement will enable MPP to facilitate additional production and distribution of the investigational antiviral by granting sub-licenses to qualified generic medicine manufacturers, with the goal of facilitating greater access to the global population.
Under the agreement, qualified generic medicine manufacturers worldwide that are granted sub-licenses will be able to supply the medication in combination with ritonavir to 95 countries, covering up to approximately 53% of the world’s population.
This includes all low- and lower-middle-income countries and some upper-middle-income countries in Sub-Saharan Africa as well as countries that have transitioned from lower-middle to upper-middle-income status in the past five years.
Pfizer will not receive royalties on sales in low-income countries and will further waive royalties on sales in all countries covered by the agreement while COVID-19 remains classified as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organization (WHO).