Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) Intends to Lower Prevenar 13 Price in Poor Countries of the World

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) made compliance with the GAVI Vaccine Alliance according to which the company will further lower the price of its pneumococcal vaccine called Prevenar 13. Starting Monday the new price of the vaccine will be down by 6% or there will be roughly a difference of 20 cents. GAVI held a conference right after the announcement by Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) was made. The conference was called in order to raise $7.5 billion through donors.

The money is needed to fund the excessive supply of the vaccine in some of the poorest countries of the world and the supply is scheduled to begin in 2016 and will be carried on for four years. Pneumococcal disease is one of the major causes of serious illnesses around the world. In order to prevent the illness which emerges from Streptococcus pneumonia bacteria, Prevenar 13 vaccine is generally used. Pneumonia, meningitis and bacteraemia are the three most common pneumococcal diseases.

These diseases cause the death of about one million children who are under 5 years of age as per a data published by GAVI. The citizens of the developing countries get victimised by these diseases because of the lack of awareness as well as medical facilities. Another reason behind the deaths is the cost of the preventive vaccines. The vaccinations for these diseases are so pricey that people in the developing countries often cannot afford to purchase them.

As a result of the agreement with GAVI, the vaccine will be made available in the developing countries for $9.30 to $12.40. The price will depend on the doses of the vaccine that will be prescribed to the child. The president of Pfizer vaccines (NYSE:PFE), Susan Silbermann said that the company understands the importance of the accessibility of the vaccinations and is proud of whatever it has been able to offer in this regard so far.

However, on the flip side Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) thinks that lowering a price of merely 20 cents is not sufficient enough. An advisor for the company’s Access Campaign, Kate Elder said that Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) could have gone further down with the price reduction. MSF which is a non-profit organisation took into consideration the fact that drug companies make billion of dollars in rich and developed countries and hence requested Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) as well as GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) to cut down prices.

The director of policy as well as analysis for MSF’s Access Campaign, Rohit Malapani also commented on the costly vaccines by saying that the cost of completely vaccinate a child is now 68 times more expensive than it was over a decade ago. The reason behind this inflation is the few pharmaceutical companies that over charge donors as well as the developing countries for vaccines that are already earning them millions of dollars in the rich countries.

MSF requested both companies to reduce the cost of their vaccines to $5 for a complete vaccination of a child so that more and more children can be vaccinated.