2 surprising contract terms in Pfizer's antiviral deal with US

The federal government's contract to buy 10 million doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 antiviral pill is far more favorable to the U.S. than similar contracts inked earlier in the pandemic for COVID-19 vaccines, experts told NPR.

NPR obtained the contract, dated Nov. 17, 2021, through a public records request. Under the deal, the U.S. is paying about $530 for a five-day course of Pfizer's antiviral, Paxlovid.

Two notable terms of the deal:

1. The contract allows for favored nation pricing, which functions similarly to a retailer's price match guarantee. If one of six other high-income countries secures a lower price for Paxlovid, the U.S. can ask Pfizer for the same price.

2. There is also a buyback clause in the contract. If Paxlovid's emergency use authorization is withdrawn for any reason, Pfizer has agreed to buy back unexpired doses of the antiviral pill from the U.S.

"I think this contract reflects a change in the national mood across time," Robin Feldman, an expert in pharmaceutical law and professor at the University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, told NPR. "So with vaccines and some treatments on the shelves, the nation is less panicked. U.S. government officials feel less backed into a corner, more able to negotiate."

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