35-company generics deal for Pfizer's Paxlovid prompts MSF backlash

The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) has signed agreements with 35 companies to manufacture the generic version of Pfizer’s (NYSE: PFE) oral COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir/ritonavir) to be supplied in 95 low- and middle-income countries.

Paxlovid is the most promising oral drug to date to treat people at high risk of progressing to severe or critical COVID-19, based on available data. But the limited global supply from Pfizer has so far largely been bought up by a number of high-income countries.

It is estimated that generic manufacturers will not be able to bring supplies of the drug to the market until 2023. Pfizer signed a voluntary license deal with the MPP in November 2021, leading to the current sublicense agreements signed with manufacturers.