Pfizer strikes USD 5.3 billion deal to sell 10 million COVID treatments in US

Pharma giant Pfizer said on Thursday that it had struck a deal to sell 10 million Covid-19 treatment courses to US government for USD 5.3 billion. It said that approval of the agreement was pending from regulators. Pfizer will start delivering the treatments to the US government later this year and continuing through the end of 2022, a statement from the company said.

On Tuesday, Pfizer had asked US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use authorisation of Paxlovid, the drug company's antiviral pill that has been observed to cut hospitalisation or death by nearly 90 percent among newly-infected high risk patients treated within three days of the onset of symptoms.

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"It is encouraging to see a growing understanding of the valuable role that oral investigational therapies may play in combatting COVID-19, and we look forward to continuing discussions with governments around the world to help ensure broad access for people everywhere."

The move from Pfizer comes a few weeks after Merck approached FDA. Merck sought grren light for its antiviral capsule against coronavirus.

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The US government announced in June it was investing $3 billion from the American Rescue Plan to accelerate the discovery, development and manufacturing of antiviral medicines.

"This promising treatment could help accelerate our path out of this pandemic by offering another life-saving tool for people who get sick with COVID-19," US health secretary Xavier Becerra said.

While vaccinations remain the most important step to end the pandemic, "This agreement would help ensure millions of doses of this drug would be available to the American people if it is authorized," he said.

The US is also buying 3.1 million courses of the Merck pill, Molnupiravir.

Pfizer has also entered into advance purchase agreements with several other countries and has initiated bilateral outreach to approximately 100 countries around the world, and is committed to working on "equitable access" for the treatment at an affordable price.

It announced a deal Tuesday with the UN-backed Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) to sub-license production for supply in 95 low- and middle-income nations covering around 53 percent of the world's population.

Paxlovid is a combination of a new molecule, PF-07321332, and HIV antiviral ritonavir. Both belong to a class of antivirals called "protease inhibitors," which block the action of an enzyme critical to viral replication.

A treatment course consists of one pill every 12 hours for five days.

(With inputs from agencies)