DAVOS, May 27: Pfizer Inc has launched ‘An Accord for a Healthier World’, an initiative aimed at providing all of Pfizer’s patented, high-quality medicines and vaccines available in the US or the European Union on a not for-profit basis to 1.2 billion people in 45 lower-income countries.
According to Pfizer Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla, the initiative seeks to greatly reduce the health inequities that exist between many lower-income countries and the rest of the world. “As we learned in the global COVID-19 vaccine rollout, supply is only the first step to helping patients. We will work closely with global health leaders to make improvements in diagnosis, education, infrastructure, storage and more. Only when all the obstacles are overcome can we end healthcare inequities and deliver for all patients,” he said.
The Accord countries include all 27 low-income countries as well as 18 lower-middle-income countries that have transitioned from low to lower-middle-income classification in the last ten years. The company will work with healthcare officials in Rwanda, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal and Uganda to identify early insights and opportunities to ensure all medicines and vaccines can reach those in need.
Stronger global health governance for healthier world
Learnings from these five countries will be applied to support the roll out for the remaining forty countries. Pfizer will also collaborate with Accord participants to identify quick and efficient regulatory pathways and procurement processes to reduce the longer amount of time it can take to make new medicines and vaccines available in these countries.
Under the Accord, Pfizer has committed to provide 23 medicines and vaccines that treat infectious diseases, certain cancers, and rare and inflammatory diseases. Making these medicines and vaccines more readily available has the potential to treat non-communicable and infectious diseases that claim the lives of nearly one million people each year in these countries and chronic diseases that significantly impact quality of life for at least half a million more. As Pfizer launches new medicines and vaccines, those products will also be included in the Accord portfolio on a not-for-profit basis.
The Accord also aims to establish faster access to Pfizer’s future pipeline medicines and vaccines on a not-for-profit-basis to the 45 countries, particularly those that treat diseases that disproportionately impact global health. To further this commitment, Pfizer, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is advancing work on the development of vaccine candidates for the prevention of Group B Streptococcus (GBS), which is a leading cause of stillbirth and newborn mortality in low-income countries. They are also discussing opportunities to support Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccine development, another maternal vaccine.
“Everyone, no matter where they live, should have the same access to innovative, life-saving drugs and vaccines,” said Bill Gates, Co-Chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “The Accord for a Healthier World could help millions more people in low-income countries get the tools they need to live a healthy life. Pfizer is setting an example for other companies to follow.”
Pfizer has called upon global health leaders and organizations to join the Accord, bringing their expertise and resources to close the health equity gap and help create a healthier world for 1.2 billion people.
