(Bloomberg) -- Pfizer Inc. will sell as many as 4 million doses of its Paxlovid pill for Covid-19 to low- and middle-income countries as part of an agreement with Unicef, the global relief organization.
Terms of the agreement to supply 95 countries with the drug were not released in the statement Tuesday from the New York-based drugmaker. Some upper-middle-income countries in Africa are also included in the deal, Pfizer said, and the company expects supply to be available in April and continue throughout the year.
Paxlovid cut the risk of hospitalization or death from Covid by almost 90% in clinical trials and promises to play an important role in battling the disease. So far, richer countries have secured about a quarter of Pfizer's initial supplies, heightening concern about access.
Pfizer has forged agreements with about three dozen drugmakers in countries around the world to make low-cost versions of Paxlovid, but those may not reach the market until 2023, according to an estimate by analytics firm Airfinity Ltd.
“Supplying to Unicef is an important part of our comprehensive strategy to accelerate access to Paxlovid to treat Covid-19 infection as quickly as possible and at an affordable price,” Pfizer Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said in the statement.
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