Pfizer to Sell Low-Cost Drugs to Poor Countries
2022-05-30
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1The drug company Pfizer will make all of its patented medicines available at a not-for-profit price to 45 of the poorest countries.
2The company announced the effort at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
3Pfizer is calling it "An Accord for a Healthier World."
4It said new medicines and vaccines would be added to the list at not-for-profit prices when they are launched.
5The drugs include COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid and breast cancer drug Ibrance, the drugmaker said on Wednesday.
6The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said it can take four to seven years or longer for new treatments to become available in poor countries.
7Sometimes they do not become available at all.
8Pfizer said its plan includes 23 patented medicines and vaccines that the company fully owns.
9The medicines treat infectious diseases, some cancers, and rare and inflammatory diseases.
10In addition to Paxlovid and Ibrance, the list includes pneumonia vaccine Prevnar 13, rheumatoid arthritis drug Xeljanz and cancer treatments Xalkori and Inlyta.
11The COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty developed with the German company BioNTech is also on the list.
12Pfizer's Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said that all the medicines being made available should be of use.
13"But clearly the antiviral Paxlovid is going to be a very big deal for them - if they need it they can get it immediately," he said.
14The 27 low-income countries and 18 lower-income countries included in the deal cover most of Africa and much of Southeast Asia.
15Five countries - Rwanda, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal and Uganda - have already agreed to join.
16Malawi's President Lazarus Chakwera made a statement about the agreement.
17He said it will let the countries and the drugmaker share "the burden of costs and tasks in the production and delivery of supplies that will save millions of lives."
18Pfizer has been criticized for how it made its COVID-19 vaccine available.
19Some poor countries waited for months after the approval of the vaccine in rich countries.
20Bourla said the new agreement uses information learned during the release of the vaccine.
21He added that the lack of health systems in some countries made providing the vaccine to people who needed it difficult.
22To avoid that, Bourla said the agreement not only supplies the treatments, it will also help organize a system to administer them.
23I'm Anna Matteo.
1The drug company Pfizer will make all of its patented medicines available at a not-for-profit price to 45 of the poorest countries. 2The company announced the effort at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Pfizer is calling it "An Accord for a Healthier World." It said new medicines and vaccines would be added to the list at not-for-profit prices when they are launched. 3The drugs include COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid and breast cancer drug Ibrance, the drugmaker said on Wednesday. 4The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said it can take four to seven years or longer for new treatments to become available in poor countries. Sometimes they do not become available at all. 5Pfizer said its plan includes 23 patented medicines and vaccines that the company fully owns. The medicines treat infectious diseases, some cancers, and rare and inflammatory diseases. In addition to Paxlovid and Ibrance, the list includes pneumonia vaccine Prevnar 13, rheumatoid arthritis drug Xeljanz and cancer treatments Xalkori and Inlyta. 6The COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty developed with the German company BioNTech is also on the list. 7Pfizer's Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said that all the medicines being made available should be of use. "But clearly the antiviral Paxlovid is going to be a very big deal for them - if they need it they can get it immediately," he said. 8The 27 low-income countries and 18 lower-income countries included in the deal cover most of Africa and much of Southeast Asia. Five countries - Rwanda, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal and Uganda - have already agreed to join. 9Malawi's President Lazarus Chakwera made a statement about the agreement. He said it will let the countries and the drugmaker share "the burden of costs and tasks in the production and delivery of supplies that will save millions of lives." 10Pfizer has been criticized for how it made its COVID-19 vaccine available. Some poor countries waited for months after the approval of the vaccine in rich countries. 11Bourla said the new agreement uses information learned during the release of the vaccine. He added that the lack of health systems in some countries made providing the vaccine to people who needed it difficult. 12To avoid that, Bourla said the agreement not only supplies the treatments, it will also help organize a system to administer them. 13I'm Anna Matteo. 14Michael Erman reported this story for Reuters News Agency. Anna Matteo adapted it for VOA Learning English. 15________________________________________________________________________ 16Words in This Story 17patented -adj. describing a product whose sales are protected by a patent: a document giving its owner the right to sell a product for an amount of time and which bars others from copying it without permission 18inflammatory -adj. causing tissue in the body to increase in size or become red and painful 19burden -n. a cost in money or effort 20delivery -n. the process of taking something where it is meant to go