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Rarely has a drug been expected around the world as an effective corona vaccine. But where does the research money come from, who could benefit? And who will receive the remedy first?
By Oda Lambrecht and Christian Baars, NDR
“This is not a great return at the end,” said IFPMA International Pharmaceutical Association Director General Thomas Cueni on the development of the corona vaccine.
Pharmaceutical companies have a sense of responsibility, Cueni told May. EdIt is about delivering an affordable vaccine, not just in rich industrialized countries, but also in developing countries. An attempt to polish the image of the pharmaceutical industry? Or is everything really different in times of pandemic?
After all, the British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has already promised to take only 2.50 euros per dose. And the American company Johnson & Johnson declared that they did not intend to make a profit here. They want to deliver their vaccine for ten dollars a dose, at least significantly more expensive than the AstraZeneca product, but even cheaper than others.
It is not a complete disclaimer of earnings
Meanwhile, some companies have made it clear that they do not want to give up profits entirely. “We can’t do it at cost,” Curevac CFO Pierre Kemula said recently in an interview with the Financial Times. For investors there should be “a small return”. However, Curevac has yet to announce how high the price of the vaccine will be.
Mainz-based company Biontech, which is developing a corona vaccine together with US company Pfizer, does not want to give up profits entirely, as a Pfizer representative explained at a congressional hearing in Washington in the summer. They agreed with the United States government that the first 100 million units would cost $ 19.50 per dose. The American company Moderna even wants to take up to $ 37, depending on the contract.
Profit from rising stock prices
Regardless of the final price, Moderna executives benefited even before the vaccine was approved. Several board members have repeatedly sold shares in their company since the beginning of this year. Since the stock price has risen significantly during this time, they have made a lot of money, altogether more than $ 100 million, as the American media has calculated. However, it is not clear why they sold the shares. At the request of Ed the company did not respond to this.
The issue of investor and corporate earnings is particularly relevant here because many governments generously support vaccine developers with tax money. Germany, for example, has launched a special research program worth 750 million euros. The Mainz company, Biontech, will receive up to € 375 million and the Tübingen company, Curevac, up to € 252 million. This is intended to support ongoing clinical studies and expand production capabilities.
The federal government had already invested 300 million euros in Curevac. Through Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), the federal government now has a stake of around 17 percent in the Baden-Württemberg vaccine developer. Other countries like Great Britain and the United States also support companies with public money.
Rich countries secure supplies
In return, governments ensure the supply of vaccines for their populations. For example, the American company Moderna received $ 955 million to develop its drug and signed a contract with the government in August to supply 100 million cans at a cost of about $ 1.5 billion.
In Germany, Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn stated that the federal government had agreed with Curevac and Biontech to administer 40 million doses each. Furthermore, the EU has already contractually ensured that Germany will receive 54 million cans from the manufacturer AstraZeneca, in each case provided that the means are approved. The EU recently signed another contract with pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Sanofi, which are working together on a corona vaccine.
However, it is clear that production capacities are limited and therefore not all can be delivered immediately, even if all goes well and several of the current candidate vaccines should prove to be effective and safe in the coming months.
WHO is committed to fair distribution
Therefore, the World Health Organization (WHO) advocates that medical personnel and risk groups get vaccinated first everywhere. To do this, it launched the Covax initiative together with the GAVI and CEPI organizations. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has campaigned for support in recent weeks, declaring: “No one is safe until everyone is protected.”
The goal of the initiative is to distribute about two billion doses of vaccines by the end of 2021. That would be enough for about one billion people, as two doses per person are likely to be needed. So far, 156 countries have pledged to participate in the Covax initiative, including 64 high-income countries that want to financially support the poor. But by no means are they all there. The United States, for example, has already canceled. Talks are still ongoing with China, the WHO announced.
The EU supports the WHO initiative with 400 million
And Germany? At the request of Ed The Federal Ministry of Health writes about the concrete commitment of Germany: “The Federal Government expressly supports the commitment of the European Commission of Covax, which has been coordinated with the member states of the EU, with funding, experience and production capacities in Europe “. At the same time, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation announced that it wanted to provide additional funds for the Covax initiative. The amount of the commitment has yet to be determined, but will be “decided and announced shortly.”
So far, the EU has pledged to support Covax with a total of € 400 million in funds from the European Investment Bank and the EU budget. However, this sum would probably only be enough to vaccinate a maximum of 80 million people.
It is encouraging to see a large number of countries join the Covax initiative, WHO chief Tedros said earlier this week. “But we face big challenges.” Because for the program to work you have to finance it, then Tedros, and there are still several billions to go.
