Pfizer Pressured To Cut Prices Of Pneumonia Medicine For Poor Children: Will It Succeed?

Medecins Sans Frontieres, an international non-governmental charity, has petitioned pharmaceutical firm Pfizer to offer price cuts for the company's pneumonia vaccine for impoverished children in developing countries. The charitable group also pushed the same topic to the pneumonia vaccine owned by GlaxoSmithKline, or GSK.

Hundreds of thousands of signatures signed the petition made by Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF, which is also known as Doctors Without Borders, Reuters reported. Supporters of the petition urged the pharmaceutical giants to make the vaccines $5 per piece. Pfizer's vaccine, Prevenar 13, costs $10 for three dosages, while GlaxoSmithKline's Synflorix can be purchased for $9.

MSF spokesman Greg Elder said millions of infants and children globally suffer -- and sometimes die -- from pneumonia because of the vaccine's high prices set by Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline. Just recently, around 70 people marched to Pfizer's headquarters in New York City to protest the high price of pneumonia vaccines.

Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline Fire Back At Protesters

Pfizer said making Prevenar 13 is pricey and takes up plenty of time (almost three years), Reuters reported. GlaxoSmithKline's Synflorix, meanwhile, consumes lots of cash and the process to produce it is complicated.

Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline said they have plenty of stocks for their pneumonia vaccine, and has a cut-price through Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, or GAVI. Through a partnership with GAVI, discounted pneumonia vaccines are offered in 55 countries, the news outlet noted.

Francois Servranckx, spokesman for Doctors Without Borders, said almost 1 million children die from pneumonia annually, as per Yahoo! News. Fifteen percent of child deaths below 5 years old are attributed to pneumonia.

Pneumonia occurs not just among children, but also in adults, according to the American Lung Association. Some people, however, have higher risks of developing pneumonia than others.

This is especially for those who are cigarette smokers, people who recently acquired a viral respiratory infection and those who have a lung disease. People with cerebral palsy, diabetes and heart disease are also vulnerable to pneumonia.

Medecins Sans Frontieres' Efforts

In March 2016, MSF filed an opposition against Pfizer from patenting the Prevenar 13 in India. Impoverished nations and medical aids rely on India when it comes to manufacturing inexpensive and affordable versions of medications and vaccines, the Daily Star reported. 

A patent for Prevenar 13 in India means companies that make the cheaper alternatives cannot operate anymore. MSF's patent opposition was the result of years spent attempting -- albeit unsuccessful -- to get Pfizer to cut the cost of pneumonia medicine in poor nations.