Indian patent office has granted patent protection to US drug major Pfizer's pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV). The decision will strengthen India's position as an intellectual property (IP) rights friendly nation and showcase its patent office as an independently functioning body.
However, the patent grant, to the product which is marketed by Pfizer as Prevnar13, have been flayed by the civil society groups as they fear that the granting of this patent would block other manufacturers in India from supplying this vaccine - which protects against 13 types of pneumococcal bacteria (PCV-13) - to those who need it most.
"It's unfair and unacceptable that almost a million children die each year from pneumonia, even though a life-saving vaccine is available. Children everywhere have a right to be protected from pneumonia, but many governments can't afford the prices set by Pfizer," said Dr Prince Mathew, Asia Regional Coordinator for international health NGO Medicine Sans Frontiers (MSF). "We urgently need additional manufacturers to rapidly introduce competition with the aim of lowering vaccine prices."
The NGO had challenged the patent claims of Pfizer in India last year, after the same patent was revoked by the European Patent Office (EPO). The patent is also being legally challenged in South Korea and before the US Patent Trademark Appeal Board.
"The method Pfizer is trying to patent is too obvious to deserve a patent under Indian law, and is just a way to guarantee an extended market monopoly for the corporation for many years to come", Leena Menghaney, South Asia Head for MSF's Access Campaign, says.
According to MSF, Indian vaccine manufacturers have the ability to supply PCV for a much lower price. However, Pfizer's patent allows it to continue controlling the PCV market in India until 2026, and blocks developing country vaccine manufacturers from supplying a competing version of Pfizer's PCV. Manufacturers will have to find new routes to develop a non-infringing PCV vaccine which may delay the availability of competing products in the pipeline from Indian producers.
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