Vicente Ortún is a professor in economics at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF).
He is also a member of the Health Economics Association (AES) and co-author of a work entitled
On the subject of Covid-19 vaccines: Innovation, access and role of patents
in which it is questioned that patents are the reason why vaccines are lacking for most of the planet's population.
The document has been published at a time when 60 countries, with the support of another 40, are promoting in the World Trade Organization (WTO) the suspension of patents related to the coronavirus.
Question.
Have not patents slowed the global production of coronavirus vaccines?
Answer.
No. The patent system has many problems, it is not conducive to innovation and needs to be reformed, but I do not think that it has been an obstacle to the manufacture of vaccines.
Q.
Was it then impossible to produce the 12,000 million doses that the world needs this year?
More information
India and South Africa propose limiting the suspension of patents on coronavirus vaccines to three years
This is how vaccination against covid evolves in Spain and in the world
A.
Probably.
Everything has gone very fast: the virus is sequenced in January 2020 and in December vaccines are already being administered, although the entire production system must be put into operation.
But it is true that there have been problems.
One has been vaccine nationalism, which has led rich countries to hoard doses.
Canada, for example, has contracts to immunize its population 13 times.
Another is that countries like the United States have vetoed the export of vaccines or necessary raw materials.
Q. The
United States now supports the suspension of patents that support more than 100 countries ...
R.
It is an excellent diplomatic maneuver.
Hoarding vaccines, banning exports ... all this creates a huge bad image.
How do you end it?
Joining the patent release campaign is a quick way to do it.
Q.
There are companies like the Israeli Teva or the Danish Bavarian Nordic that have offered to patent holders to produce more doses and have received silence for an answer.
Is there still unused productive capacity?
R.
I do not know these specific cases, but I do not think it is something significant.
Janssen and AstraZeneca have granted companies around the world voluntary licenses to manufacture.
And Moderna, which uses the most innovative messenger RNA, has already said that it will not take legal action against whoever copies it.
The problem is that for now nobody knows how to do it.
Q.
But the voluntary licensing system you mention still does not share knowledge openly.
Does doing it only with whoever the patent owner wants does not leave out actors who could prevent us from continuing without enough vaccines next year?
A.
In June 2022 the problem will be over.
Most of the world will be immunized and productive capacity will also have grown.
It is in these months when you have to increase production and the release of patents would take months of negotiations and paperwork.
It is not the way.
The way is to give money to covax, remove barriers to exports, end bottlenecks and keep companies signing voluntary licenses.
And alliances such as the ACT Accelerator, where all the major global players and organizations are located.
P.
If there is political will, the suspension of patents can be accelerated ...
R.
The next meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is in June, but then more negotiations and meetings will follow, and so on over and over again until an agreement is reached.
Then, that will have to be transposed into the framework of the European Union and of each country.
Hopefully, you make it to 2025 and have managed to reform something.
And then you have to bear in mind that good international words, even those of the WTO, are then fought with bilateral agreements.
Q.
What do you mean?
R.
There is a big difference between what is said in international treaties and the day-to-day reality of bilateral agreements.
The multilateral is beautiful, but then the powers go country to country and make it concrete.
And when they do, they tie Nigeria and they tie Australia.
Rich countries became rich by copying, but now the poor are not allowed to copy.
International trade has a lot of that.
Q.
You said before that patents have many problems ...
A.
If there were no patents in the world, we would be better off.
And if in some area they are not justified, it is in the toilet.
But given that we have them and that there are many interests behind, we will not be able to get rid of them so easily.
So all right, let's reform the system.
But first let's face the problem before us, which is the need to increase vaccine production.
Q.
Don't patents encourage innovation?
A.
Patents are not in emerging and competitive industries.
They are a way of maintaining privileges when an industry declines and is not innovative.
When there is real innovation, as happened half a century ago with computer chips or now with messenger RNA vaccines, you don't need patents because the competitive advantage comes from being the first to move.
Look at Moderna.
Q.
Pfizer also makes messenger RNA and is a great advocate for patents.
R.
Pfizer is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies, which have been characterized by innovating less and less.
In fact, what they usually do is buy small companies, which are the ones that really innovate.
If I were Pfizer, I would also support patents, because the rest of your business has it thanks to them.
If he is in this game it is thanks to BioNTech.
Q.
Does it make sense that vaccines that have been largely financed with public funds are protected by patents?
A.
No, it is a way to pay twice for the same thing.
One when development is financed and another to maintain the monopoly.
P.
What lessons does this crisis leave us?
A.
We need to change the type of response.
The scientists who warned us that there would be a pandemic tell us that there will be another.
We will need a networked system where people from many countries are trained, with ecosystems with highly qualified resources and potential capacity on standby.
The real bottleneck is having enough competent people.
The solution is to have a range of vaccines prepared with RNA platforms.
This allows us to anticipate against viruses that may pose a threat and has the advantage that they have already passed the regulatory phases, which will save time and money.
Q.
And how is all this financed?
A. It will
require a global commitment because a good part of the investment required has to be public, but it also has to attract private capital.
Only with the public will it be difficult to achieve the goal.
Q.
What role will patents play in the future?
R.
It will be secondary.
People who know about all this hardly talk about them.
With vaccines, the awareness that they are a global good is stronger.
If they are seen to be an obstacle to reaching the required production, they will be overcome.
I see patents with vaccines as very vulnerable, much more than with other medicines.
But I repeat, that is not the problem now.