Another look at the news in Week to March 18

In a surprise move last week, the charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), for the first time ever, filed a ‘patent opposition’ in India, with the aim of preventing US pharma giant Pfizer from getting a patent on the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13), sold under the Prevenar trade name. MSF said that, after years of fruitless negotiations with Pfizer to lower the vaccine’s price for use in its projects, nothing had been achieved, hence the patent challenge.

However, back in 2010, Pfizer made the vaccine available at discounted prices under the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) - an international public-private partnership to improve access to vaccines in the world's poorest countries. As of November 2015, 58 countries were eligible to procure the vaccine through GAVI, according to the organization's website.

India is eligible to procure the vaccine under the GAVI alliance, but has not bought it. The vaccine costs about $170 per child in India in the private market. The GAVI price is $10 per child, but MSF said Indian firm Serum Institute of India had agreed to supply it to MSF and countries in need for $6.