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Free patents on Covid vaccines? Round dance of opinions

3 years ago babelfish

Free patents on Covid vaccines? Round dance of opinions

Those who praise and those who criticize the Biden administration's idea on the temporary suspension of patents on anti Covid vaccines.

"The extraordinary circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic require extraordinary measures". These are the words that Katherine Tai , the US trade representative, used to announce that the American administration  Biden is seriously considering saying goodbye to protecting the intellectual property of covid vaccines. These words sparked a small earthquake as the debate on whether to suspend patents has been going on for months. Standard bearers of this position were India and South Africa but until now none of the most industrialized countries had ever accepted the proposal. Not even an open letter signed by hundreds of Nobel laureates and former heads of state had been able to shake things up. 

The Indian paradox 

The decision would come in response to the large number of victims of Coronavirus in India. More than 226 thousand deaths since the start of the pandemic . A very high figure, about double the Italian deaths, which, however, must be commensurate with the Indian population which in 2019 had reached 1 billion and 366 million people . India is experiencing a paradoxical situation: it is the first vaccine producer in the world but has vaccinated less than 12% of its population . The Asian giant ranks first in the world in the sector, with 60% of the world vaccine production . The Serum Institute is the first vaccine manufacturer in the world , producing and selling 1.5 billion vaccines every year . Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, it has obtained the vaccine production license from the Anglo-Swedish company AstraZeneca : 38% of the total vaccines that Astrazeneca markets worldwide are produced in India.  These numbers testify to the failure of the government vaccination campaign.

India's disastrous vaccination campaign 

Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla told the Financial Times that Narendra Modi's government initially limited itself to ordering just 21 million doses and a larger order would not be placed until March, when the second wave of the pandemic. it had already overwhelmed India. In total, the Serum Institute of India has confirmed that it has received an order for approximately 260 million doses . Furthermore, many Indian pharmaceutical companies have already been producing for months on American licenses, including the one granted free by Moderna. The reason why India is so behind in vaccination, as Federico Rampini writes in "La Repubblica", is due to the " incompetent and corrupt bureaucracy , logistics collapsing", which is why India is forced to ask America for help . 

WHO satisfaction

The World Trade Organization will negotiate the details of the patent suspension only after its member countries have agreed on some sort of waiver, which will not happen for six weeks. The director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus , has called the current one a monumental moment in the fight against Covid . "The commitment of US President Joe Biden and US Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai to support the waiver of vaccine protections is a powerful example of American leadership in addressing global health challenges," he wrote. in a note the director of the WHO -. I congratulate the United States on their historic decision for vaccine fairness and for prioritizing the well-being of all people around the world at a critical time ”.

The no of companies in the pharmaceutical sector

Strongly opposed to the suspension of patents is the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America which has spoken of "an unprecedented step that will undermine our global response to the pandemic and compromise security". A decision that, says the American industry association, " will create confusion between public and private partners , weakening already fragile supply chains and fueling the proliferation of counterfeit vaccines". The fear, explains Sven Borho , of OrbiMed Advisors, an investment company in the healthcare sector, "is that the move will create a precedent that makes it easier, from now on, to suspend patents ". In an editorial entitled " Biden's Patent Theft " the Wall Street Journal asks "who will finance future therapies if the White House authorizes other countries to plunder them?". Without considering the thousands of jobs put at risk by the sharp fluctuations in the stocks of pharmaceutical companies. 

Farmindustria: "Anti covid vaccines arrived thanks to intellectual property"

"The vaccines against Covid 19 arrived so quickly thanks also to intellectual property ". The comment of Farmindustria, the Confindustria association that brings together pharmaceutical companies active in Italy, is direct and without beating about the bush.  “Without, in fact, the push of patents for research and production, today we would not be able to benefit from these tools, which are fundamental for overcoming the pandemic crisis and returning to a normal life”, continues in the statement. The initiatives announced by the Biden presidency " do not solve the problem of having undergone more vaccines ", because " producing a vaccine is a complex industrial process , which requires huge investments, advanced technologies, technology transfer, ad hoc plants, dedicated machinery, highly qualified personnel , a consolidated expertise. We cannot improvise as producers of vaccines against Covid ”.  The derogation from patents would risk “diverting resources and raw materials to less efficient production sites. And it could lead to an increase in counterfeiting globally ”. 

The risk of a precedent 

American magazine Axios wonders whether giving up intellectual property rights could set a precedent for future investment in new drugs. " It's a real risk if you don't add more steps to increase the availability of doses around the world," the magazine reads. To this is added, as underlined by former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb , that: " starting a new production , even if you had a complete technology transfer and collaborated closely with a new production partner, would take at least six months , usually much more ”. Weakening patent protections, in addition to being a potentially inefficient solution, could pose significant long-term risks. “I wonder if we want to send the message to potential companies that the bigger the health crisis, the less we will respect and protect your property . It's a great system if you believe this is the last pandemic we'll face, tweeted Craig Garthwaite, a professor at Northwestern University.

Would patent liberalization solve the problem? 

"Biden's declaration has a more political than substantial value", lawyer Vincenzo Salvatore , professor of European Union law at the University of Insubria and leader of BonelliErede's Healthcare and Life Sciences Focus team, told Sole 24 ore . “The bottleneck is the production capacity, which must be multiplied”, continues the lawyer. The production issue is also at the heart of the matter for Rachel Cohen, US director of the non-profit organization Drugs and Neglected Diseases , in New York: "A waiver of patents would be only the first step to increase the supply of vaccines, secondly we have to transfer knowledge on how to make them and the third step is a massive investment in production capacity ”. 

The victory of the third world lobby 

Biden's decision pleases the left wing and the Third World lobby within the American Democratic Party . “Among the proponents of free access to vaccine patents is Bernie Sander s, a socialist senator who was Biden's rival in the race for the nomination a year ago – wrote Rampini in“ Repubblica ”-. For some time the most radical wing of the party had been campaigning very visible in the media, managing to overwhelm opposing and yet authoritative voices such as that of Bill Gates ”. The decision would come after a phone call between Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “T he White House is focusing on a strategic relationship with India , to contain Chinese expansionism in Asia – writes Rampini -. Coming to the aid of Delhi in the acute emergency of the pandemic is an obligatory gesture, and contributes to counteract the other vaccine diplomacies deployed by rival superpowers such as China and Russia ”.

Public or private vaccines?

As the ISPI study center recalls, according to the Kenup Foundation , governments around the world have spent around 93 billion euros to help large companies develop vaccines against Covid, both through research funds and through agreements for the purchase of doses for trials. still ongoing, while all profits went to private individuals. Furthermore, Oxfam denounces that the states have entered into contracts without considering that only by vaccinating the population in developing countries and not only in rich countries, can the pandemic really be defeated. In this way, in 'rich' countries today one in four people is vaccinated, in poor countries the proportion drops to one in 500 . Biden's move aims to straighten this flaw,  the US administration, as explained to the NYT by Ana Santos Rutschman, an expert in health law at the Saint Louis University School of Law, aims to force Big Pharma "to accept compromises with which it will be able to live".

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/sospensione-dei-brevetti-sui-vaccini-anti-covid-girotondo-di-opinioni/ on Sat, 08 May 2021 08:49:46 +0000.