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However, the combination of national interests and pressure on the pharmaceutical industry to make a profit is already fueling geopolitical competition over who will get the vaccine first. This is a good reminder that the benefits of pharmaceutical research are not evenly distributed. The system has had to be rethought for a long time.
The French government is already relentless in its criticism of its national pharmaceutical champion Sanofi, which has allowed itself to say that the United States, not Europe, should be the first to receive the vaccine it offers, if that works.
The reason, according to company manager Paul Hudson, is that the United States was the first to contribute to the financing of the project.
“This is unacceptable,” said Agnes Pannier-Runacher, France’s economy minister.
The French business leader at Sanofi was quick to ease tensions by promising that an effective vaccine would be “available to everyone.” But the debate has not gone anywhere. French President Emmanuel Macron plans to meet with Sanofi next week to discuss the issue. And another company, AstraZeneca Plc, is prioritizing the UK in its vaccine project.
From the surface, Sanofi’s position seems quite logical. According to physician and consultant Stanley Plotkino in 2015. published, the cost of vaccine research ranges from $ 500 million to $ 1 billion. If American taxpayers are willing to cover the bill, shouldn’t they be rewarded?
Drug makers know that this is a vaccine that will be sold in large quantities and not at an alarmingly high price: Johnson & Johnson, for example, says they are trying to develop a vaccine that will cost around € 10.
According to Samo Fazeli, a senior pharmaceutical analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, given that until production reaches millions of doses, pharmacists will still have to set certain priorities, so why not start with those who funded the project?
But Paris’ arguments also sound logical. Sanofi does not occur in a vacuum. The company benefits from European shareholders, employees, factories and tax credits. It is worth noting that R&D financing in France is the second most generous, compared to 0.4% of GDP in other countries supervised by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (The United States is tenth).
This is mainly due to the tax incentive schemes used by companies like Sanofi (amounting to around € 150 million per year). French taxpayers may wonder if this should not be taken into account.
However, hitting Sanofi with the teeth will not be a long-term solution. The danger is that if countries take turns trying to explode, we will have a kind of war against the vaccine trade, nationwide.
This would be a mockery of the World Health Organization’s call for vaccines to be a common good, as well as a repeat of the fatal fight for the masks and medical equipment that have confronted European countries. If France were vaccinated first, would Italy or Greece receive the same access?
It would be more productive if European countries supported their outrage through greater cooperation and sharing of the financial risks of vaccines. Then they could share the catch equally. There is no reason why the 27 countries of the European Union have not been able to create their own version of the US Advanced Biomedical Research and Development Service. USA And offer the equivalent of the deep pockets of the Trump administration. The recent $ 8 billion in EU funding for vaccines is a prime example. Another example is the International Procurement Instrument for Medical Equipment and Vaccines.
The broader the cooperation, the more opportunities there are for countries to level the playing field for large pharmaceutical companies. For decades, drug makers have focused on new lucrative, patent-protected treatments that people in developing countries could only dream of.
New organizations are fighting this: For example, the United Nations-backed Drug Patent Fund has authorized generic companies to produce patented HIV drugs at lower cost. The Epidemic Preparedness Innovation Coalition has also brought countries together to fund vaccine research.
The pandemic has revealed a number of problems in the drug supply chain, from reliance on emerging markets for vital drugs to a lack of interest in research on potentially unprofitable vaccines.
As long as there is a chance to ensure that vital drugs get the funding they need, taxpayers around the world, and not just in France or the United States, should also have better access to them.
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