ALSO READ: 12 family members feared dead in Lamu boat tragedyAid agency, Medicine Sans Frontiers (MSF), has warned that the decision by the Indian Patent Office to grant US pharmaceutical corporation, Pfizer, monopoly to control market price of drugs has led to high costs that many governments in developing nations cannot afford. "It's unfair and unacceptable that almost a million children die each year from pneumonia even though a life-saving vaccine is available. Introduce competitionHe added: "We urgently need additional manufacturers to rapidly introduce competition with the aim of lowering vaccine prices. A number of Indian vaccine manufacturers who supply cheap vaccines and drugs to most of the developing countries like Kenya were dealt a blow after Pfizer was granted patent monopoly to control market prices of medicines until 2026. Indian vaccine manufacturers said the patent monopoly would block other manufacturers in India from supplying cheap pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV), which protects against 13 types of pneumococcal bacteria (PCV-13), to those who need it most.

Source: Standard Digital August 24, 2017 21:00 UTC