STAT+: Chilean health ministry is urged to issue a compulsory license for the Pfizer Covid pill

In the latest bid to expand access to the Pfizer (PFE) Covid-19 pill, a nonprofit group and an association of pharmacists are seeking to make it possible for generic manufacturers to sell the medicine in Chile, which was excluded from a recent licensing deal the drug maker reached for its pill to become available in mostly poor countries.

The plan hinges on convincing the Chilean government to issue a compulsory license, which countries can grant to a public agency or a generic drug maker, allowing it to copy a patented medicine without the consent of the brand-name company that owns the patent. This right was memorialized in a World Trade Organization agreement.

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