Advanced Countries Sweeping Up Oral COVID-19 Treatments... Will Vaccine Inequality Repeat?

Over 26 Million Paxlovid Doses Purchased by 12 Countries Including the US
WHO "Paxlovid Shortage Expected in Low- and Middle-Income Countries by Second Half of the Year"

On the 14th, the oral COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid was delivered to a pharmacy in Guro-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] Some wealthy countries, including the United States, are monopolizing the initial supplies of oral COVID-19 treatments. Concerns are being raised that the vaccine inequality crisis could repeat itself.

On the 14th (local time), the Washington Post (WP) reported that wealthy countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom have pre-purchased a significant portion of the available supply of Pfizer's Paxlovid and Merck & Company's (MSD) Molnupiravir for the first half of this year.

The United States paid over $10 billion (approximately 11.9 trillion KRW) to purchase 20 million courses of Paxlovid. These supplies are scheduled to be delivered in two batches of 10 million courses each in June and September. It is known that more than 26 million courses of Paxlovid have been purchased by 12 countries including the United States. Pfizer is expected to produce 30 million courses of Paxlovid by the second quarter of this year and 120 million courses by the end of the year.

MSD's Molnupiravir has also been purchased in a total of 8.6 million courses by 15 countries, including 12 high-income and 3 middle-income countries. MSD plans to produce a total of 30 million courses of Molnupiravir by the end of this year.

Despite this situation, Pfizer and MSD are reportedly negotiating purchases with countries that have purchasing power, such as the European Union (EU), according to WP. Fernando Luis, Colombia's Minister of Health, said, "I have heard that the global supply of oral COVID-19 treatments is not sufficient for everyone to use," adding, "I am concerned that a situation similar to the vaccine inequality crisis may repeat with oral COVID-19 treatments."

Some experts predict that the vaccine inequality crisis will not repeat because Pfizer and MSD have allowed the production of generic versions of oral COVID-19 treatments in low- and middle-income countries. In November last year, Pfizer signed a license agreement with the United Nations-supported medical organization, the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), allowing the manufacture of generic Paxlovid in 95 low- and middle-income countries. MSD also enabled the production of generic Molnupiravir in 105 countries.

However, it is expected to be difficult to secure sufficient treatments for the time being. Typically, pharmaceutical companies in each country take time to prepare manufacturing plans for treatments, and regulatory approval is also required. Accordingly, the World Health Organization (WHO) has predicted that shortages of Paxlovid may occur in low- and middle-income countries and that shortages will continue until the second half of this year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.