Driving further innovation is critical to global vaccine equity
Since the start of the pandemic, biopharmaceutical companies have worked around the clock to research, develop and manufacture treatments and vaccines to fight COVID-19.
Since the start of the pandemic, biopharmaceutical companies have worked around the clock to research, develop and manufacture treatments and vaccines to fight COVID-19.
The following is part of a series of Catalyst posts detailing each of the five strategies to advance COVID-19 global vaccine equity – which rely on and benefit from a strong innovation ecosystem.
Since the start of the pandemic, biopharmaceutical companies have worked around the clock to research, develop and manufacture treatments and vaccines to fight COVID-19. At unprecedented speed, innovation has delivered multiple safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines and treatments now being administered globally. But despite these achievements, the need for new innovations to end the pandemic continues—a reality that has been underscored as the world grapples with emerging variants and assesses how to best prevent against these evolving strains and treat patients who have contracted COVID.
Thankfully, scientists and researchers have continued their tireless work to find solutions. In addition to the more than 100 candidate vaccines currently in clinical development and another 184 in pre-clinical development, scientists are:
As we’ve watched the delta variant change the trajectory of the pandemic, we are reminded how critical it is to support, incentivize and drive continued innovation. This sustained research requires a robust innovation ecosystem that is bolstered by strong intellectual property (IP) rights, and policy, legal and regulatory certainty.
But a group of vocal IP critics have continued advocating for waiving obligations to protect IP under the World Trade Organization’s TRIPS agreement, claiming that this would promote more equitable global vaccine distribution. In reality, the opposite is true. At a time when research and development has never been more important, jeopardizing the certainty that IP protections provide would only threaten efforts to understand and tackle variants, hamper ongoing tech transfer and voluntary collaborations, compromise future medical innovation and adversely impact the rate at which innovators are able to respond to future pandemics.
To meaningfully ensure that COVID-19 vaccines are reaching across the globe in an equitable and efficient manner, it’s critical that the real barriers and bottlenecks—like those related to dose sharing, production, trade barriers and country readiness—are being addressed and that the innovation ecosystem continues to be supported and protected through IP protections.