Post-pandemic blues of predatory pharma

WHAT GOES up must come down.Everyone understands that. Businesses know that only too well, because most industries face market cycles. Not the pharmaceutical industry, though, which is insulated from these highs and lows because demand for medicines never goes down, whether the economy shrinks or expands. Now, as the panic and scramble for vaccines becomes a dark memory, Big Pharma is learning how unsustainable its pandemic high of soaring profits was. With projected offtake tapering off sharply since early 2022, especially in the US, a clutch of drug giants is seeing revenues drop by over 40 per cent. These figures reflect poorly on their role during the coVID-19 pandemic, when profits mattered much, much more than patients.
The pandemic years were marked by one of the biggest tussles between rich and developing countries at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over intellectual property rights (IPRS). Why IPRS? Because IPRS, which include patents and trade secrets, had a direct bearing on the ability of the world to meet the demand for desperately needed vaccines and therapeutics to fight COVID-19 through a host of generic companies if they were allowed to override patents during the pandemic. This column covered the issue extensively and predicted from the start that it was a lost cause. The US and the EU, where the vaccines to fight COVID-19 were developed, would not allow even a temporary waiver because of the powerful lobby of Big Pharma (see "Compromise' on TRIPS waiver is a sellout', Down To Earth, 1-15 April, 2022).
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In

Reluctant to share
Even three decades after panchayats received constitutional status, states across India seem unwilling to share power with them

GET THE BALANCE RIGHT
India currently relies on three major food crops—rice, maize and sugarcane—for ethanol production. Ethanol-blended petrol supports the country’s goals of carbon neutrality and energy sovereignty. But the transition to clean energy must not jeopardise food security.
Brazil outbreak triggers poultry export bans
A TOTAL of 24 governments, including India, China, South Africa and the EU, announced a complete ban on poultry products from Brazil by the end of May, after the Latin American country confirmed an outbreak of avian influenza.

TRICKY TRAJECTORY
Indirect emissions from land-use changes, overexploitation of water resources must not be ignored in the pursuit of biofuel

MIND THE TRADE-OFF
In times of climate change, a careful roadmap must be drawn to plan how much of food crops can be diverted to fuel production

May mayhem
The 2025 monsoon arrived a week early and raced across India in May, breaking records with its speed and intensity

LOST IN MAIZE
Ethanol-blending programme and its spiralling impacts on food inflation, nutrition availability

World at risk of losing ice sheet, glaciars
THE ANTARCTIC ice sheet, which has the biggest potential for sea-level rise upon melting, may be at or very close to a tipping point, says a study published in Communications Earth and Environment on May 30.

Artwork by nature
Once close to disappearance, Banda's shajar stone handicraft industry is on a revival path

World at risk of losing ice sheet, glaciars
THE ANTARCTIC ice sheet, which has the biggest potential for sea-level rise upon melting, may be at or very close to a tipping point, says a study published in Communications Earth and Environment on May 30.