Cross-country agreements for Covid therapies, inked during the pandemic, could now see a change, with the World Health Organization declaring that Covid-19 was no longer a global health emergency.

Royalty payments would kick-in, some as early as June, unless there is a communication to the contrary, a representative with a domestic drugmaker told businessline.

Several collaborations had been formalised between innovator and generic companies, where the former had not sought royalty payments on products licensed out to the generic drugmaker, as long at the pandemic lasted.

Indian drug and vaccine makers were part of major collaborations including on antivirals Remdesivir (from Gilead Sciences), Molnupiravir (Merck, Sharp & Dohme-MSD) and Paxlovid (Pfizer). AstraZeneca inked an alliance with Serum Institute of India on its Covid-19 vaccine. 

Domestic drug majors Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy’s, Cipla, Hetero, Glenmark and Torrent Pharma, to name a few, were among the direct licensees or sub-licensees (through agreements with Medicines Patent Pool-MPP), for different antivirals and vaccines.

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An MSD spokesperson said, “Under the terms of the agreement, now that the WHO is no longer classifying Covid-19 as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, MSD, Ridgeback Biotherapeutics and Emory University will receive royalties for sales of molnupiravir as on June 1, 2023 (5 per cent of net public sector sales and 10 percent of net private market sales). We did not enter these agreements for financial gain; we prioritised these as part of our ongoing commitment to facilitate availability of molnupiravir to countries globally.”

While the demand for Covid-19 therapies have fallen, there’s scope for these products, if it was repurposed, for example, explained an official with a domestic drug company, and licensee on multiple Covid-19 therapies.

A Pfizer spokesperson pointed out, though the global emergency had ended, WHO emphasised that the virus was  here to stay, and all countries needed to continue managing Covid-19 and other infectious diseases impacting them.

“Broad access to Covid-19 vaccines and treatment, including Paxlovid, will remain for people who need them. We remain committed to our agreements with UNICEF, MPP and Global Fund for supply of PAXLOVID for eligible high-risk patients in these markets,” they said.

Broader reach

The Pfizer-MPP agreement enabled broader reach and local manufacturing partnerships for Paxlovid.

“Through this agreement, voluntary licences for the drug have been provided to 35 qualified manufacturers across the world, of which 21 are Indian companies, to supply a generic version of Paxlovid to 95 LMICs (low and middle income countries); covering approximately 53 percent of the world’s population),” Pfizer said.

Last March, an MPP note on the Paxlovid sub-licensing agreement had said: “Following the pandemic period, sales to low-income countries will remain royalty free, lower-middle-income countries and upper-middle-income countries will be subject to a 5 per cent royalty for sales to the public sector and a 10 percent royalty for sales to the private sector.” 

WHO’s former Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan hoped the collaborations would continue, to keep therapies affordable and accessible. 

“The pandemic is not over, Covid has not gone away, people are still going to get sick, people are still going to need drugs and diagnostics,” she told the paper.

Many companies involved in these collaborations (Indian and foreign) were contacted by the newspaper for comment on the development. Some did not respond, others did, anonymously.

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