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Should big pharma be compelled to waive their coronavirus vaccine patents?
A thread…
A thread…
...The Biden White House, rather surprisingly, suggested last week it’s considering the case...2/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us/white-house-says-its-considering-intellectual-property-waiver-covid-19-vaccines-2021-04-27/
...And as @deb_cohen reported for @BBCNewsnight last week there might be some movement from other developed countries too within the World Health Organisation...3/ https://twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/status/1387907782582669314?s=20
...So: would it be a good idea?
The pharma sector insists waivers would crush private sector innovation incentives & that the problem in expanding Covid vaccine supply is not patents but a lack of manufacturing capacity in the developing world.
Do these claims hold water?...4/
The pharma sector insists waivers would crush private sector innovation incentives & that the problem in expanding Covid vaccine supply is not patents but a lack of manufacturing capacity in the developing world.
Do these claims hold water?...4/
...Most independent experts - even those in favour of intellectual property waivers - accept expanding supply is not as simple as lifting patents because vaccine production requires deep technical knowhow which is usually embedded in the pharma company employees themselves....5/
...AstraZeneca’s well-publicised problems with its European production facilities shows what a challenge scaling up production can be, even within the same group...6/ https://www.thechemicalengineer.com/news/what-is-causing-astrazeneca-s-vaccine-production-woes/
...It’s also a process that needs, for pretty obvious reasons, to be scrutinised by capable and competent regulators...7/
... @ChadBown of @PIIE feels these technical and regulatory barriers mean it’s not feasible to imagine many more countries realistically producing Covid-19 vaccines safely and in short order - & sees the campaign for patent waivers as essentially a distraction....8/
...Chad argues wealthier countries should instead focus on committing to scale up production domestically and delivering the vaccines to everywhere on the planet that needs them through initiatives such as the World Health Organisation’s Covax scheme...9/
...Yet advocates of patent waivers, such as @Public_Citizen, argue the main problem with scaling up is not inherent complexity but that profit-motivated drug companies are unwilling to share their expertise...10/ https://www.citizen.org/article/waiver-of-the-wtos-intellectual-property-rules-myths-vs-facts/
...& point out many drug manufacturers in developing countries say they *could* produce if given the necessary support...11/ https://apnews.com/article/drug-companies-called-share-vaccine-info-22d92afbc3ea9ed519be007f8887bcf6
... @ellenthoen, the director of the Medicines Law & Policy group, notes that drug companies, as well as resisting patent waivers, have refused to put any resources into the World Health Organisation’s Covid-19 Technology Access Pool...12/ https://twitter.com/ellenthoen/status/1389250115504939022?s=20
...Would removing intellectual property restrictions discourage investment by pharmaceutical companies into future vaccines?
The problem with this argument is that the lion’s share of the funding for the current crop of successful Covid vaccines came from governments...13/
The problem with this argument is that the lion’s share of the funding for the current crop of successful Covid vaccines came from governments...13/
...And governments spent around €87bn on advance market commitments, effectively de-risking funds the pharma companies themselves committed...14/ https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210110005098/en/Governments-Spent-at-Least-%E2%82%AC93bn-on-COVID-19-Vaccines-and-Therapeutics-During-the-Last-11-Months
...But if we *did* accept patent waivers risked damaging private sector incentives is there not an obvious way around this?...15/
...The economist @ricardo_hausman has suggested governments could buy out the intellectual property from the pharma firms through a lump sum payment and then allow any capable firm around the world to manufacture the vaccine under a free licence....16/ https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/covid19-vaccine-shortages-pharmaceutical-companies-by-ricardo-hausmann-2021-04?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=organic-social&utm_campaign=page-posts-april21&utm_post-type=link&utm_format=16:9&utm_creative=link-image&utm_post-date=2021-04-30
...This debate, then, seems return to – and hinge on – a technical and empirical question: given adequate support and technology transfers from pharma companies *could* manufacturers in more counties safely produce Covid vaccines?
Could this picture change?...17/
Could this picture change?...17/
If you think no, then the patent waiver campaign is indeed probably an unhelpful distraction.
But if you think the answer is yes, the case for patent waivers is largely made given the manifest benefits from radically scaling up production for a vaccine-hungry world...18/
But if you think the answer is yes, the case for patent waivers is largely made given the manifest benefits from radically scaling up production for a vaccine-hungry world...18/
