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Vaccine for everyone:
Protest outside the headquarters of vaccine manufacturer Moderna in Cambridge, Massachusetts on April 28th
Photo: Keiko Hiromi / imago images / AFLO
Abdul Muktadir
is frustrated. The head of the pharmaceutical company Incepta from Bangladesh would like to have corona vaccine produced and, according to his own information, would have the necessary equipment for every type of vaccine available, with a capacity for half a billion vaccine doses a year. A concern about unsafe second-class vaccines in developing countries, as recently expressed by Biontech boss
Uğur Şahin
(55), is what Muktadir calls "complete nonsense". An RNA vaccine like the one from Biontech or Moderna would be particularly easy for Incepta, claims Muktadir. "If we get the blueprint for the antigen, we could start right away because two and a half production lines are standing around unused." But none of the western companies responded to his request to share the recipe.
Now that the corona crisis is escalating in neighboring India, politics on the subject of patents is in motion. This Wednesday and Thursday, the World Trade Organization WTO is again discussing the motion submitted by India and South Africa months ago to allow the use of vaccine patents for all - as it was in the 2000s with one exception from the TRIPS agreement on the protection of intellectual property for HIV -Medication was made.
So far, the US, the EU and a few other countries have always voted against in order to protect domestic pharmaceutical companies. But the US government of President Joe Biden (78) recently sent several signals for a departure from this stance, as Biden promised "absolutely, definitely" to a patient activist during his election campaign. "The market has once again failed to meet the health needs of developing countries," Biden's trade representative
Katherine Tai
(47)
said
at a WTO conference in April. "Extraordinary times require extraordinary leadership." Government spokeswoman Jen Psaki said last week that it would be openly exploring the most effective way to get vaccines into the world.
In fact, it is questionable whether the mere removal of patent protection, as has since been demanded by 170 former heads of state and Nobel Prize winners, would in itself have any effect.
"We think that's unrealistic," says a spokeswoman for the Biontech partner company Pfizer.
The complex production process of RNA vaccines not only requires access to a network of hundreds of suppliers (for whose scarce resources there is already tough competition), but also highly specialized equipment and trained specialists.
The technology transfer is above all time-consuming.
Patent protection is full of holes anyway
The hurdle of patent law would still be relatively easy to jump over - especially in countries like Bangladesh, which are considered "least developed countries" by the WTO and are automatically exempt from TRIPS penalties until 2033.
Incepta boss Muktadir insists on official permission and would also pay for it.
But even in rich Canada, the company Biolyse Pharma relies on a compulsory license.
Because Johnson & Johnson showed no interest in a cooperation, Biolyse co-founder Claude Mercure now simply wants to copy their funds without permission.
A Canadian law for access to medicine gives it away.
Patent lawsuits are rarely on the agenda. Moderna has officially vowed to waive its claims for the duration of the pandemic. One likes to watch how competitors use knowledge patented by Moderna (just as, conversely, Moderna also uses patents from other companies and state institutes free of charge). The innovative work is rewarded with multi-billion dollar profits, thanks to the state guarantee of purchase at a negotiated price. "We have no interest in using intellectual property to reduce the number of available vaccines," said Chairman of the Board
Stephen Hoge
the "Wall Street Journal". The company would be happy to issue licenses for the future.
Astrazeneca shows how it is done.
The Serum Institute of India is allowed to produce billions of times the vaccine developed by Oxford University without paying a license fee.
Up until the new Indian corona wave, most countries in the world were supplied from there, including Bangladesh.
More than 50 companies show interest in technology transfer
Originally, the Oxford researchers wanted to offer their vaccine completely as an open source project, without any exclusive contract. Astrazeneca came into play after Bill Gates, 65, insisted on an experienced industrial partner. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is also involved in Biontech, Moderna and Curevac and co-finances the World Health Organization as well as the Covax vaccine initiative, names world health as its goal. And that is better helped with established structures, says Gates. "It's not like there is some empty factory with an operating license that magically produces safe vaccines," said Gates on Sky News TV recently, justifying his rejection of a TRIPS exemption.
Magically not, but possible, as the rapid expansion of the production capacity of Biontech, Moderna and Curevac with numerous partner companies shows - only so far largely limited to Europe and North America.
For it to work elsewhere, the vaccine pioneers would have to actively share their experience, not just release the patents.
To this end, the World Health Organization founded a "Technology Transfer Hub" for RNA vaccines against Covid-19 in mid-April.
More than 50 companies worldwide have already registered as potential producers for the partnership, reported hub manager Martin Friede - himself a veteran of the vaccine industry - the portal "The Intercept".
Only Biontech, Moderna and Curevac have not yet received an answer.
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