Pfizer to dominate $ 20 billion COVID pill market in 2022

Pfizer Inc. will dominate a $ 20 billion market for COVID pills next year as wealthier nations scramble to buy supplies, while lower-income countries will have to wait until early 2023 for manufacturers of generic drugs produce large quantities, according to an analysis.

It is expected that Pfizer, already making huge profits from its COVID vaccine, make about $ 17 billion from the sales of its experimental treatment, Paxlovid, in 2022, according to Airfinity Ltd. Molnupiravir from Merck & Co. It will generate about $ 2.5 billion in revenue next year, the London-based data company projected.

Demand for the drugs is poised to outstrip supply as COVID spreads around the world and scientists wonder how vaccines and antibody treatments against the omicron variant and others that could emerge will hold up.

Purchases by rich countries have fueled concern that, after struggling to obtain vaccines, the less wealthy could be left behind once again, despite licensing agreements to expand the availability of the drugs.

“The question of unequal access to COVID medicines is definitely before us“, He said John Amuasi, a specialist in global health and infectious diseases at the Kumasi Center for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine in Ghana. “There is no reason to think that it will not be a problem. It is clear that it will be. The sooner noise is made about this, the better”.

Pfizer Y Merck They agreed to allow generic drug makers to make cheap versions of their pills for low- and middle-income countries.

The deals could mean supplies start pouring into those nations in a few months, he said last month. Charles Gore, Executive Director of the Drug Patent Fund, backed by the United Nations.

Drug manufacturers have come up with a series of measures they have taken to expand access to their treatments globally.

Merck he hopes his therapy will be available in high-, middle- and low-income countries almost simultaneously, he wrote in an email. The company said it reserved at least 3 million vaccination cycles of its own supply for low- and middle-income countries for the first half of 2022 and expects another 3 million generic cycles to be produced through licensing agreements in the same. period.

More than 100 applications have been filed for each drug, according to the patent group, and it is unclear how many generic drug manufacturers will be licensed, according to the group.

Once the companies have permission, they will have to manufacture the pill, conduct studies to show that it works as well as the original, and apply for regulatory approval.

“We hope this will happen quickly, but it will be a long time before the products are available,” He said Gelise McCullough, representative of the Geneva-based patent group. “We will try, as far as possible, to move forward as quickly as possible.”