Pfizer has announced the launch of An Accord for a Healthier World, a health equity initiative designed to provide all the pharmaceutical giant’s patented, high-quality medicines and vaccines available in the United States or European Union on a not-for-profit basis to 1.2 billion people in 45 lower-income countries.

The countries included in the accord comprise all 27 low-income countries as well as 18 lower-middle-income countries that have transitioned from low-income classification in the last 10 years. Pfizer will work with healthcare officials in Rwanda, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal, and Uganda to identify and resolve hurdles beyond supply to inform the rollout in all 45 countries, where the company has committed to providing 23 medicines and vaccines that treat infectious diseases, certain cancers, and rare and inflammatory diseases. According to Pfizer, making these medicines and vaccines more readily available has the potential to help reduce diseases that claim the lives of nearly one million people each year in these countries and chronic diseases that significantly impact quality of life for at least half a million more. As the company launches new medicines and vaccines, those products will also be included in the accord portfolio on a not-for-profit basis. 

To further the commitment, Pfizer, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is advancing work on the development of vaccine candidates for the prevention of group B streptococcus (GBS), which is a leading cause of stillbirth and newborn mortality in low-income countries. The partners also are discussing opportunities to support respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine development, another maternal vaccine.

“Everyone, no matter where they live, should have the same access to innovative, life-saving drugs and vaccines,” said Gates Foundation co-chair Bill Gates. “The Accord for a Healthier World could help millions more people in low-income countries get the tools they need to live a healthy life. Pfizer is setting an example for other companies to follow.” 

“As we learned in the global COVID-19 vaccine rollout, supply is only the first step to helping patients,” said Pfizer chairman and CEO Albert Bourla. “We will work closely with global health leaders to make improvements in diagnosis, education, infrastructure, storage, and more. Only when all the obstacles are overcome can we end healthcare inequities and deliver for all patients.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Andrei Vasilev)