- Patient advocate and aid groups are unhappy with India's patent office after it issued a patent to Pfizer (PFE +1%) covering Prevenar 13, a pneumonia vaccine. The groups contend that the patent will put the vaccine, $170 for a full course, out of reach for many people in poor countries. The action will enable the company to exclusively sell Prevenar 13 in-county until 2026. It launched it there in 2010.
- Many emerging nations rely on Indian drug firms to supply inexpensive versions of medicines and vaccines. One Indian company, Panacea Biotec Ltd., is developing a cheaper version of Prevenar 13. It is mulling a formal opposition to the patent issuance.
- Pfizer's patent on the vaccine was revoked in Europe last year and is being challenged in the U.S. and South Korea.
- The company has supplied Prevenar 13 at discounted prices under the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), an international public-private partnership aimed at improving access to vaccines in the world's poorest countries.
- Bowing to criticism over Prevenar 13's cost, Pfizer reduced the price to non-government institutions last November.
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