Global Inequality: New Drugs Go The Way Of Vaccines

WTO mustn’t delay the waiver of intellectual property rights for Covid-19 therapies any more

- [e-mail]

Globally, vaccine inequity is starker than ever before. Around 75% of Covid-19 vaccine jabs have been cornered and even hoarded by rich countries, with not even 3% of the population in low-income countries getting their first jab. To make the disparity worse, a few rich nations are rolling out booster shots for the fully immunised.

After vaccines, innovative treatments being tested have now put the spotlight on access to life-saving Covid therapies, some of which may even prove to be prophylactic. An effective antiviral treatment that can be taken orally could be a pandemic game-changer, saving lives and relieving pressure on overwhelmed hospitals, particularly relevant for countries with low vaccination rates.

Drug companies including Pfizer, Novartis and Roche are racing to develop new drugs while Merck recently announced ‘promising’ results of its antiviral pill – molnupiravir. There is apprehension, and rightly so, that many of these drugs may not reach most of the ‘needy’ population.

So far, the only recommended treatments are expensive monoclonal antibodies whose supply is hampered due to monopoly rights of patent-holding corporations. Worse still, these are out of reach of a majority of the world’s population. For instance, the antibody cocktail of casirivimab and imdevimab by Swiss firm Roche is pegged around Rs 60,000 per patient in India.

Why is supply of Covid-related items constrained?