In May of last year, Pfizer's COVID-19 oral antiviral Paxlovid was among 23 products Pfizer agreed to sell at cost to the world's poorest countries. Now, the company has expanded the program to include all of its roughly 500 medicines. Photo Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
HealthSociety The WorldPoor Countries Will Get Better Access to Medicine
The New York pharma giant Pfizer announced it would provide drugs at manufacturing cost, to the world’s poorest countries.
The initiative, entitled “An Accord for a Healthier World,” was first announced in May of 2022 and included 23 medications. The company has now made a massive jump, deciding to include an array of 500 of its products in the at-cost initiative in an effort to “better align with disease burden and unmet patient needs in the countries,” says Pfizer.
In total, 45 countries – including Ghana, Malawi, Rwanda, and Senegal – are included in the program. Included in the 500 at-cost products, patients will have access to chemotherapies, cancer therapies, and antibiotics. After receiving much backlash for its Covid-19 response – when the company considerably favored wealthier countries with vaccination rollouts – this initiative may just be the company’s attempt to right its wrongs.
