US pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer will offer medicines and vaccines affordable in low-income countries.
They said they would no longer aim to make a profit from their patented drugs to 45 of the world’s low-earning nations. The list includes all their 23 patented medicines created to fight some cancers, infectious diseases, and rare inflammatory diseases. Pfizer made the announcement during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The decision responds to criticism for trying to take advantage of the pandemic situation worldwide. Other companies like UK-owned AstraZeneca and US-owned Johnson & Johnson have been selling their vaccines without profit since COVID started.
It is no surprise that the pandemic has been profitable for many companies, especially Pfizer. They doubled their revenues up to $81.3 bn, and they also made about $26bn in just the first three months of this year alone. The numbers are partly due to the coronavirus vaccine they developed working with BioNTech, a German pharmaceutical company.
After countless campaigns on sharing their drug-making expertise, Pfizer decided so that less-fortunate countries could manufacture their own vaccines and other treatments. The biotechnology corporation also plans to share the vaccine and treatment for COVID. The pharma giant also said that this would hopefully benefit more than a billion individuals.
Accord for a Healthier World
Angela Hwang, President of Pfizer Biopharmaceuticals Group, is well aware of the obstacles that some unprivileged countries have when it comes to medicines. For this reason, they initially worked with five countries to come up with an effective operational plan before sharing knowledge and solutions against COVID.
Bill Gates, the co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, praised the move and hoped that other companies would do the same. He said that he was pleased about the Pfizer partnership and hoped other firms in the pharmaceutical industry would follow suit.
Pfizer Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla appealed to the World Health Organization to develop logistics and partners to help prescribe and distribute their medicines.
Ghana, Malawi, Rwanda, Senegal, and Uganda decide to join the “Accord for a Healthier World.” Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera said that the accord would allow countries to work with Pfizer to produce and deliver supplies that will help fight coronavirus. Rwanda President Paul Kagame says that Pfizer just set a new standard for helping others and hopes that other companies will follow suit.
