Pfizer is donating medicines worth more than $70 million to India and is discussing an “expedited approval pathway” for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to help with the Covid-19 situation in the country, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said.

Bourla, in a note to Pfizer India colleagues on the Covid-19 situation as shared on LinkedIn, said, “We are committed to being a partner in India's fight against this disease and are quickly working to mobilize the largest humanitarian relief effort in our company's history.”

“Pfizer colleagues at distribution centres in the US, Europe and Asia are hard at work rushing shipments of Pfizer medicines that the Government of India has identified as part of its Covid treatment protocol,” Bourla added.

The medicines will be donated to provide access to Covid patients in public hospitals across the country to the Pfizer medicines they need free of charge.

The medicines include “steroid medications to reduce inflammation, anticoagulants to help prevent blood clotting and antibiotics that treat secondary bacterial infections” and are valued at more than $70 million. They “will be made available immediately” while the company will work closely with the government and its NGO partners to get them to where they are needed most, the Pfizer CEO said.

“This effort, in combination with Pfizer Foundation funding that supports humanitarian organizations providing essential and life-saving equipment to India, such as ventilators, oxygen concentrators and consumables, is our most comprehensive humanitarian relief response ever,” Bourla said.

The company is also discussing vaccine approval with the Government of India.

“Unfortunately, our vaccine is not registered in India although our application was submitted months ago. We are currently discussing with the Indian government an expedited approval pathway to make our Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine available for use in the country,” Bourla said.

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