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15 March 2016Asia

Médecins Sans Frontières fears Pfizer’s monopoly over pneumonia vaccine

Activist organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has challenged Pfizer’s patent application covering the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine on the grounds that it is obvious.

The patent, applied for at the Indian Patent Office (IPO), covers the PCV13 vaccine, which is administered to infants and children to help protect them from pneumonia.

Pfizer claimed it should be awarded a patent because the method of conjugating 13 serotypes of streptococcus pneumonia into a single carrier is new but MSF claimed it was not inventive.

Leena Menghaney, head of MSF’s access campaign, said: “Our pre-grant opposition shows that the method Pfizer is trying to patent is too obvious to deserve a patent under Indian law, and is just a way to guarantee a market monopoly for Pfizer for many years to come.”

A spokesperson for Pfizer told LSIPR that it is working with the Indian government to provide access to the vaccine.

"We are committed to creating an affordable and sustainable programme supporting administration of our pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, which has the broadest serotype coverage of any pneumococcal conjugate vaccine available in the world today."


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More on this story

Asia
2 March 2016   Médecins Sans Frontières has urged the Indian Patent Office to reject a Gilead Sciences patent application covering Sovaldi.
Asia-Pacific
10 May 2016   Gilead has been granted a patent for its hepatitis C drug Sovaldi in India, despite concerns over the cost of the drug.