Pfizer Moves to Allow Cheap Versions of Promising Covid Pill
- Pact with UN-backed group would cover 53% of global population
- Merck, Ridgeback struck similar agreement for their antiviral
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Pfizer Inc. reached a licensing agreement that will allow generic-drug manufacturers to produce inexpensive versions of its Covid-19 pill for 95 low- and middle-income countries, following a similar move by Merck & Co.
In a statement on Tuesday, Pfizer said it has signed an agreement with the United Nations-backed Medicines Patent Pool to license the experimental pill, once it is authorized by regulators, to generic companies that can supply it to countries that account for roughly 53% of the world population. The shares fell 1% in pre-market U.S. trading.