Giving Pfizer sole right to manufacture this medication will put it out of reach of those who
need it most.
India’s Patent Office has dealt a major setback to hopes for improved access to an affordable
pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) by granting a patent to the US pharmaceutical
corporation, Pfizer, for its PCV13 product, marketed as Prevnar 13. The monopoly granted to
Pfizer allows it to control the PCV13 market in India until 2026 and blocks Indian
manufacturers from supplying a lower-priced version of this vaccine.
In India, which carries the world’s highest burden of pneumonia, accounts for nearly 20% of
global infant deaths from this disease.
Pneumonia causes more than a quarter of deaths in children under the age of five – nearly one
million young lives lost per year – whilst India, which carries the world’s highest burden of
pneumonia, accounts for nearly 20% of global infant pneumonia deaths.
Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) presently control a duopoly market for PCV, the world’s
best-selling vaccine that has brought in a whopping $39 billion in sales in the last eight years
to the two pharmaceutical corporations. The high price tag and absence of competition has
allowed these corporations to quickly capture over 50% of the private vaccine market in
India.
Meanwhile, about one third of countries around the world (about 60 countries),
predominantly low-and middle-income countries where millions of children risk getting
pneumonia, have not yet been able to introduce the PCV in their national immunisation
systems due to the exorbitant prices the two corporations charge – despite a 2007 World
Health Organization (WHO) recommendation.
In 2016, with the aim of enabling and accelerating production of affordable PCV, MSF
challenged Pfizer’s unmerited patent claims on the vaccine in India after the European Patent
Office revoked the same patent judging it to be non-inventive. The patent is also under
dispute in South Korea and before the US Patent Trademark Appeal Board.
The decision granting Pfizer a monopoly on the PCV13 could prove to have a deadly impact
on public health. Manoeuvring to figure out new routes to develop a non-infringing PCV
vaccine could delay the availability of cheaper drugs. In the absence of competition, the price
of the pneumonia vaccine will remain inflated and out of reach for many parents and
developing governments. At the lowest global price of nearly $10 a child, which isn’t
accessible to most countries, it is now 68 times more expensive to vaccinate a child than in
2001.
In India, Pfizer’s PCV had until recently been available solely in the private market with an
out-of-pocket price tag of over Rs.10,000, reducing the impact of the vaccine as it fails to
reach the most vulnerable children. At this juncture, a lower-priced PCV is critically
important to increase vaccine coverage across the country in the coming years. Leena
Menghaney is the SouthAsia head of the Access Campaign at Médecins Sans Frontières
Source: Hindustan Times
need it most.
India’s Patent Office has dealt a major setback to hopes for improved access to an affordable
pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) by granting a patent to the US pharmaceutical
corporation, Pfizer, for its PCV13 product, marketed as Prevnar 13. The monopoly granted to
Pfizer allows it to control the PCV13 market in India until 2026 and blocks Indian
manufacturers from supplying a lower-priced version of this vaccine.
In India, which carries the world’s highest burden of pneumonia, accounts for nearly 20% of
global infant deaths from this disease.
Pneumonia causes more than a quarter of deaths in children under the age of five – nearly one
million young lives lost per year – whilst India, which carries the world’s highest burden of
pneumonia, accounts for nearly 20% of global infant pneumonia deaths.
Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) presently control a duopoly market for PCV, the world’s
best-selling vaccine that has brought in a whopping $39 billion in sales in the last eight years
to the two pharmaceutical corporations. The high price tag and absence of competition has
allowed these corporations to quickly capture over 50% of the private vaccine market in
India.
Meanwhile, about one third of countries around the world (about 60 countries),
predominantly low-and middle-income countries where millions of children risk getting
pneumonia, have not yet been able to introduce the PCV in their national immunisation
systems due to the exorbitant prices the two corporations charge – despite a 2007 World
Health Organization (WHO) recommendation.
In 2016, with the aim of enabling and accelerating production of affordable PCV, MSF
challenged Pfizer’s unmerited patent claims on the vaccine in India after the European Patent
Office revoked the same patent judging it to be non-inventive. The patent is also under
dispute in South Korea and before the US Patent Trademark Appeal Board.
The decision granting Pfizer a monopoly on the PCV13 could prove to have a deadly impact
on public health. Manoeuvring to figure out new routes to develop a non-infringing PCV
vaccine could delay the availability of cheaper drugs. In the absence of competition, the price
of the pneumonia vaccine will remain inflated and out of reach for many parents and
developing governments. At the lowest global price of nearly $10 a child, which isn’t
accessible to most countries, it is now 68 times more expensive to vaccinate a child than in
2001.
In India, Pfizer’s PCV had until recently been available solely in the private market with an
out-of-pocket price tag of over Rs.10,000, reducing the impact of the vaccine as it fails to
reach the most vulnerable children. At this juncture, a lower-priced PCV is critically
important to increase vaccine coverage across the country in the coming years. Leena
Menghaney is the SouthAsia head of the Access Campaign at Médecins Sans Frontières
Source: Hindustan Times
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