PERI - Don’t Worry about the Drug Industry’s Profits When Considering a Waiver on COVID-19 Intellectual Property Rights

by: Luke Hawksbee, Martin McKee, Lawrence King

February 07, 2022 | Journal Article

View pdf

Headline: Big Pharma Profits and COVID
Intro Text: In “Don’t Worry about the Drug Industry’s Profits When Considering a Waiver on COVID-19 Intellectual Property Rights,” PERI researcher Lawrence King and co-authors challenge Big Pharma’s claim that relaxing intellectual property rights around COVID-19 will disincentivize investment necessary for life-saving innovation. They show that pharma has been, by far, the most profitable sector in the U.S. since 1955. Moreover, despite record profitability around the time of the coronaviruses that produced SARS and then MERS, these companies failed to invest in vaccines or antiviral drugs that would have provided major benefits during the COVID pandemic.
Type of publication: Journal Article
Research or In The Media: Research
Research Area: Finance, Jobs & Macroeconomics
Publication Date: 2022-02-07
View pdf
Authors:
- Add Authors: Luke Hawksbee
- Add Authors: Martin McKee
- Add Authors: Lawrence King
Show in Front Page Modules: No

Don’t Worry about the Drug Industry’s Profits When Considering a Waiver on COVID-19 Intellectual Property Rights

In an article published by The BMJ, PERI's Lawrence King and colleagues argue that policy makers should prioritize public health over private monopolies in the debate around global access to COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.