HPR82 Price Leakage Due to International Reference Pricing: Impact of Pfizer's Not-for-Profit Pricing Initiative on Price Levels in Additional Countries

Abstract

In May 2022, Pfizer announced it will make its 23 patent protected medicines and vaccines available on a not-for-profit basis to 45 low- and lower-middle-income countries. The initiative will benefit around 1.2 billion people, but tiered pricing, especially if the at-cost price is publicly disclosed, carries risks. If other countries use any of the 45 countries as part of their reference basket for International Reference Pricing (IRP) purposes, price cuts could be imposed on Pfizer products elsewhere. We assess the risk to Pfizer, given its current selection of 45 countries, and explore how much greater the risk would have been if it had extended not-for-profit price levels to all low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).