India grants Pfizer patent on pneumonia vaccine

India has granted Pfizer Inc a patent for its powerful pneumonia vaccine Prevenar 13, in a blow to some health groups that said the move would put the treatment out of reach of thousands in poorer nations.

The decision by India’s patent office bars other companies from making cheaper copies of the vaccine and allows Pfizer to exclusively sell it in India until 2026.

It’s a big victory for the US drugmaker in a market that has the world’s largest number of pneumonia cases, a lung disease that kills nearly a million children a year globally.

The decision also has international implications, as several poorer nations rely on India’s robust drugs industry to supply cheaper copies of medicines and vaccines.

It also comes at a time of the ongoing pressure by the US on India to tighten its patentlaws. The United States Trade Representative expressed concerns about India’s intellectual property (IP) laws in a report in June, and listed it among the countries whose IP laws unfairly favour local companies.

Pfizer’s vaccine protects children and adults from 13 types of pneumococcal bacteria, and a full vaccination course costs about $170 (Rs 10,892) on India’s private market.

India started giving out the vaccine for free under its national immunisation programme earlier this year, but the rollout is in phases. Only about 2.1 million of the 25 million eligible people in the country will get it this year.

The patent grant means Indian companies won’t be able to manufacture the vaccine for domestic use or exports.