Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

We'll find a treatment for coronavirus – but drug companies will decide who gets it

We'll find a treatment for coronavirus – but drug companies will decide who gets it

We'll find a treatment for coronavirus – but drug companies will decide who gets it
How will the Covid-19 pandemic end? According to conventional wisdom, the crisis may ease in a few months, when some of the antiviral medicines on trial succeed. In a few years’ time, when a vaccine becomes available, we may eradicate the virus altogether.

Yet it’s unlikely that this is how the pandemic will actually play out. Although there is every indication that treatments for coronavirus may soon emerge, the mere fact of their existence is no guarantee that people will be able to access them. In fact, Covid-19 is more likely to end in the same way that every pandemic ends: treatments and vaccines will be buried in a thicket of patents – and pharmaceutical companies will ultimately make the decisions about who lives and who dies.

We typically think of monopolies, where companies exert exclusive control over a commodity, as market failures that can be corrected with antitrust laws. Medical patents are the equivalent of legalised monopolies. In theory, patents are supposed to grant pharmaceutical companies a reward for investing in research and development. Crucially, they’re supposed to be temporary, lasting for 20 years. But in practice, patenting minor tweaks to a formula can extend this term considerably, foreclosing market competition and granting pharmaceutical companies the power to set prices.

In 1996, a treatment for HIV/Aids was brought to market in the US by a clutch of pharmaceutical companies. The treatment, a combination of antiretroviral medicines, turned a virus that was a death sentence into a chronic condition. It was priced annually at £6,500 per person – in most parts of the world, this price was the same in practice as having no treatment at all. It took until 2004, after millions of people had died from the illness, for India and South Africa to afford the treatment.

Already we’ve seen how medical monopolies have restricted access to coronavirus treatments. We know, for example, that health workers don’t have enough N95 respirator masks; less well known is that 3M holds more than 400 patents for respiratory protection, severely restricting who can produce and supply them in the US. Politicians have called on 3M to release its patents during the pandemic so production can be increased. Amidst an acute shortage of tests for Covid-19, a French diagnostic manufacturer submitted a test kit to the US FDA for emergency approval to sell it in the country, and was sued for patent infringement by a subsidiary of Softbank (this was later withdrawn).

And most of the promising treatments for coronavirus that are being tested in clinical trials have patents attached to them. Some of these, such as favipiravir, which is used to treat influenza, and the combination of Iopinavir and ritonavir, sold under the brand name Kaletra to treat HIV/Aids, have short-term patents in force. Remdesivir, a medicine developed for Ebola by the biotechnology company Gilead, has major patents across the world that last until 2038. Last month, Gilead rushed to secure “orphan drug” status in the US for Remdesivir’s potential use against Covid-19. Orphan status grants companies government incentives to to develop medicines for rare diseases that would otherwise be unprofitable, yet Covid-19 is quite the opposite of a rare disease. The company later backtracked.

There is every possibility that a Covid-19 vaccine will be encumbered with multiple patents. Vaccines are now a big business. Take infant mortality caused by pneumonia, for example. The two vaccines in use today are buried in a thicket of patents belonging to Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline. India uses the Pfizer vaccine, which retails at $250 for a full course but is available to the government at a discounted rate of £8 through GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance funding. But given that demand in India runs into the tens of millions, even the subsidised cost is unaffordable, and only a small fraction of babies end up getting the vaccine. And so, 40 years after a vaccine for pneumonia was developed, 127,000 Indian babies continue to die from it every year, while the vaccine they can’t afford continues to generate £4.5bn for Pfizer annually.

It’s no surprise that countries are taking pre-emptive measures to deal with monopoly control over medical treatments. Compulsory licensing of patents – a legal measure by which countries can suspend patents on a product – is gaining popularity. Last month, Chile declared that the pandemic justifies the use of compulsory licensing; others soon followed. Israel issued compulsory licenses for lopinavir and ritonavir, Ecuador approved a resolution that asks the minister of health to issue compulsory licences over all patents related to Covid-19, Canada and Germany amended their patent laws to enable the swift grant of a compulsory licence, and Brazil is in the process of amending its patent law to make compulsory licensing easier.

These measures are useful, but they require each country to go it alone. And patents are not the only thing preventing access to coronavirus treatments. Costa Rica recently submitted a proposal to the World Health Organization for a global Covid-19 technology pool – a place where all the necessary intellectual property, such as patents, designs, trade secrets and software could be brought together. The pool would encourage governments to share innovations and make them available globally. The Covid-19 technology pool is far from a done deal, but support for it is growing. Policymakers in the Netherlands and the UK recently threw their weight behind the idea and the director-general of the WHO welcomed Costa Rica’s proposal, while UNITAID has pledged to finance it.

Given that this is a pandemic, it may well be that no corporation can afford to wield the stick for a Covid-19 monopoly. If Covid-19 treatments were free from monopoly control, we would have a real shot at reaching everyone. If this happens – and it’s still a big if – we might realise that such a pharmaceutical system is not only what we need to survive Covid-19, but also what we need to survive other diseases.
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Trump Says Ukraine Can Fully Restore Borders with NATO Backing
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
×