Over the objections of Doctors Without Borders, the Indian government has awarded a patent to Pfizer (PFE) for its best-selling Prevnar 13 pneumococcal vaccine, a move the advocacy group says will restrict access to many patients for nearly a decade.
In reaching its decision, the Indian Patent Office determined the Pfizer patent was sufficiently unique to merit protection, even though Doctors Without Borders filed paperwork last year arguing otherwise. The patent “does not meet the inventive step requirement [and] it ought to have been rejected,” the advocacy group wrote in a statement after the government decision was announced.
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