You Can't Fight A Pandemic Without IP

Intellectual property rights were vital in producing life-saving Covid vaccines

- Nilanjan Banik and Philip Stevens

Recent data from ‘Our World in Data’ suggest Covid-19-related infection around the world and India is waning. Hospitalizations and deaths are very low. Vaccines must take great credit for keeping Covid largely out of the headlines after two years. There are now 10 Covid-19 vaccines recommended by the World Health Organisation, for a disease that was unknown in December 2019 – and over 60 vaccine candidates in late-stage clinical trials or pending regulatory review.

This innovation triumph has been matched in manufacturing too: by December 2021 there were around 12 billion doses manufactured, enough to vaccinate the world’s population. Currently, vaccine supply far exceeds the global distribution capacity – Africa’s first Covid vaccine manufacturing plant in South Africa recently announced it may close due to lack of demand.

What led to quick vaccine development?

Central to it are the intellectual property (IP) rights which have given companies ownership and rights over their inventions. IP has enabled dozens of research collaborations and manufacturing partnerships all over the world, often between competitors. Rivals have shared proprietary compounds, platforms, and technologies to develop new vaccines and flood the market in record times.

Since June 2021, the number of vaccine manufacturing partnerships has risen from 93 to 357.