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- Africa is reportedly in talks with Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) to acquire the COVID-19 pill developed by the company, the continent’s top public health body said Thursday in a press briefing.
- "We are in really close discussions with Pfizer to see what can be done to make the drugs available on the continent and accessible on the continent, that is, the Paxlovid drugs," Reuters reported quoting John Nkengasong, the director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
- The oral treatment known as Paxlovid is a combination of nirmatrelvir [PF-07321332] tablets and older antiviral, ritonavir tablets.
- According to Nkengasong, the plans to obtain Paxlovid was one of the three strategies to fight the pandemic in Africa in 2022 along with an expansion of immunizations and testing for COVID-19.
- "The only way to relieve that will be if we have drugs like Paxlovid where people can take that drug and stay home and get relief, and that way the burden and the constraints on the health system will be limited," he added.
- Pfizer (PFE) has signed a licensing deal with United Nations-backed Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) to broaden the access to Paxlovid in low-income countries.