US pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) said on Thursday that it has entered into an agreement to supply up to six million treatment courses of its oral COVID-19 antiviral treatment, Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir [PF-07321332] tablets and ritonavir tablets), to the Global Fund.

The international organisation's COVID-19 Response Mechanism (C19RM) provides grant support to low- and middle-income countries to purchase COVID-19 tests, treatments, personal protective equipment and critical elements of health systems strengthening.

Paxlovid treatment courses will be available for procurement through this mechanism, subject to local regulatory approval or authorisation, by the 132 grant-eligible countries determined by the Global Fund based on income classification and disease burden.

Pfizer expects supply to be available before the end of the year. Low- and lower-middle-income countries will pay a not-for-profit price while upper-middle-income countries will pay the price defined in Pfizer's tiered pricing approach.

Other terms of the agreement were not disclosed.