Pfizer accused of greed and profiteering from the coronavirus pandemic

Drug maker Pfizer has been accused of capitalizing on pandemics and keeping the formulas of its drugs secret, while producing generics based on them would save many people in poor countries, The Guardian writes.

The anti-virus vaccine Comirnaty, which the New York-based pharmaceutical firm developed with German company BioNTech, produced more than 3 billion doses last year. It generated $36.8 billion in annual revenue, with Pfizer netting nearly $22 billion in vaccine revenue. In 2022, the company expects $32 billion in vaccine sales and another $22 billion in sales of Paxlovid, an oral drug to treat covid. In clinical trials, Paxlovid has been shown to be 90% effective in preventing severe covid among the most vulnerable groups if the drug is taken shortly after infection. The drug has already received approval in the US, UK and 40 other countries.

The Pfizer vaccine was the first clinically tested anti-virus vaccine approved in most countries of the world. Like other popular vaccines, the British company AstraZeneca and the American Moderna, it has saved many lives. However, drug companies have been accused of not sharing the formulas of their vaccines, which would allow other manufacturers to produce cheaper versions of them.

According to Global Justice Now, a group that advocates global justice and equal access to vaccines for people in all countries, Pfizer's annual income exceeds the GDP of most countries, and this is achieved due to the fact that the company "steals from public health." As for the first point of accusation, the total revenue of the American drugmaker in 2021 amounted to $81.3 billion, and in 2022 the amount is expected to be up to $102 billion. When referring to "theft", activists mean the amounts received by developers from banks and governments. The fact is that BioNTech's work on the vaccine was funded by the European Investment Bank, which provided a loan of 100 million euros, and the German government, which in turn provided a grant of 375 million euros. “The development of mRNA vaccines was supposed to revolutionize the global fight against covid, but we have allowed Pfizer to hide this critical medical innovation from much of the world”, - Global Justice Now says.

Pfizer continues to keep its developments secret – while, for example, Moderna has abandoned patent protection for its anti-virus vaccine, and South Africa has already developed a generic based on it. Global Justice Now, Pfizer's policy is called pandemic profiteering and covert murder: “Pfizer is now richer than most countries, they have made more than enough money from this crisis. It's time to put intellectual property on hold and end the monopoly on vaccines".

Pfizer representatives responded to these claims by saying that the company supports the principles of equitable access to vaccines: countries with high and middle income levels pay more for them than poor countries, to which the vaccine is sold at a non-commercial price. In addition, the company is spending large sums on ongoing large-scale clinical research, increasing production, improving processes: “Covid vaccines are complex biological products, and their production requires special experience, knowledge and equipment. It's not the same as just "sharing the recipe". Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine production includes over 280 materials".

Last year, Global Justice Now activists campaigned against AstraZeneca, with a dozen and a half people beating drums and holding banners outside the company's Oxford office. At that time, members of the group also protested against the refusal of the manufacturer to share the patent for their vaccine, advocating equal access to vaccines for all people.