advanced search

<< Back To Home

MSF launches challenge to Pfizer´s patent on the pneumonia vaccine in India, to increase access to more affordable versions

Monday, 21st of March 2016

MSF launches challenge to Pfizer´s patent on the pneumonia vaccine in India, to increase access to more affordable versions

Excerpt below; full text is at http://www.msfaccess.org/about-us/media-room/press-releases/msf-launches-challenge-pfizer%E2%80%99s-patent-pneumonia-vaccine-india-in

 

Opposition filed by MSF against Pfizer´s patent on the pneumonia vaccine at Delhi Patent Office today.

 

New Delhi/ New York, March 11, 2016 – Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has filed a ´patent opposition´ in India to prevent US pharmaceutical company Pfizer from getting a patent on the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13), so more affordable versions can become available to developing countries and humanitarian organisations. This is the first time a vaccine (biosimilar) patent has been challenged in India by a medical organisation, with the goal of millions more children being protected against deadly pneumonia.

 

Pneumonia is the leading cause of childhood death, killing almost one million children each year. Currently, pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) are the only two manufacturers of the vaccine, which could prevent a large number of these deaths. Pfizer has priced PCV13 (marketed as Prevenar) out of reach of many developing countries and humanitarian organisations. It is now 68 times more expensive to vaccinate a child than in 2001, according to a 2015 MSF report, The Right Shot: Bringing down Barriers to Affordable and Adapted Vaccines. The pneumonia vaccine accounts for almost half the price of vaccinating a child in the poorest countries. 

 

“The pneumonia vaccine is the world´s best-selling vaccine, and last year alone, Pfizer brought in more than US$6 billion dollars in sales just for this product—meanwhile many developing countries, where millions of children risk getting pneumonia, simply can´´t afford it,” said Dr. Manica Balasegaram, Executive Director of MSF´´s Access