To say that big pharma isn't popular worldwide would be quite an understatement. Of all the faces of so-called corporate greed that can be encountered in the modern-day, big pharma appears to be the most malevolent. It is an industry that has may choose to unfairly exploit the health of its customers for turning greater profits, a choice that certain companies do end up taking more often than not. Unfortunately for big pharma, when the companies are caught, the blowout is very public. As a result, many polls in countries like the USA show that the pharmaceutical industry is the most disliked in the nation, even more so than the oil industry. Even fiction has picked up on the idea of evil pharma, with many books and movies continuing the build the unflattering image of the industry. Naturally, the industry itself is aware of its reputation and has been searching for ways to wipe the slate.
In that sense, it is not hard to understand how the pandemic may give the industry its once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to erase all the ill-will and even emerge with a net-profit of public goodwill afterwards. Many industry experts say that this is one of the biggest benefits for big pharma to participate in the vaccine race, aside from the obvious financial return. The news coverage of the global vaccine effort has largely been inclined towards portraying it as a global effort that brings humanity together in an apparently selfless effort by big pharma to cure the world. But this hides many aspects of a more troubling story. As many have pointed out, big pharma isn't the shining crusader that it has been portrayed as. There are expectations that many of the vaccines that were made jointly by public-private efforts usings taxpayer money in part will still be sold by vaccine makers for a tidy profit to the very same governments that helped fund it. Again, as many have sadly noted, this is not new or even unexpected. Capitalism, after all, does not heed human misery or need. The real problem lies with the fact that these companies will be retaining control of the production of these vaccines, with supply coming from their own factories and licensed producers. Ordinarily, this may not be a significant problem. Now, this insistence on keeping patents airtight will cost valuable time as these companies scramble to provide vaccines at a never-before-seen scale. As such many organisations and nations have called for a suspension of patent rights for vaccines and related treatments, paving the way for true worldwide manufacturing of the vaccines that are required to end the pandemic. But, this isn't likely to happen. A proposal was floated by India and South Africa at a recent WTO conference which was related to waiving the necessary WTO intellectual property rules to allow the vaccines to be produced more widely. Facing stiff opposition from teh EU and the US, the proposal did not reach a conclusion, much to the disappointment of the many poorer nations that would have benefitted greatly from such a suspension. Opinions against this suspension generally choose to focus on the possibility that eroding patent protections would only serve to undermine the very process that had made the fast development of the vaccines possible. While such opinions may stave off any attempts to suspend vaccine patents in the short run, it is difficult to say if such a state may continue. The nature of the pandemic means that no one is safe unless everyone is safe (generally speaking). Therefore, richer nations and communities may be able to gain early access to the vaccine but the pandemic doesn't end until the coverage net is significantly expanded. It is likely thus that if and when big pharma fails at its gamble to effectively provide the vaccine worldwide in an equitable and time-bound manner that such a demand would be resurrected.
In a year fraught with grim tidings and dark portents, the limited suspension of vaccine patents is a much-needed indication of change and renewal. This would not be the first time such protections have been suspended during emergencies and thus it may be to the benefit of vaccine makers to voluntarily offer-up such a suspension.