Nineteen drugmakers in India have signed sublicence agreements with the United Nations-backed Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) to manufacture the generic version of Pfizer’s oral COVID-19 antiviral nirmatrelvir, which is to be used in combination with ritonavir.
They are among the 35 companies across 12 countries to have entered into such agreements with MPP for manufacturing and supplying to 95 low and middle income countries, including India. The non-exclusive sublicences allow the generic manufacturers to produce raw ingredients for nirmatrelvir and/or the finished drug itself co-packaged with ritonavir.
The agreements follow the voluntary licensing agreement MPP and Pfizer signed in November 2021. Pfizer markets its oral COVID-19 treatment under the name of Paxlovid, which has received emergency use/conditional authorisation from USFDA and the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
