Snigdha Adhikari

Since the development of anti-COVID-19 by some pharmaceutical companies, the dictum ‘no one is safe until everyone is safe’ has become popular worldwide. It calls for ensuring equitable distribution of the safe-saving jabs among the global populace. A wavier of COVID-19 vaccine patentability has now become a burning issue worldwide as it helps nations to have an easy access to vaccines and intensify their inoculation drives. India and South Africa had first proposed for the waiver to the patent of COVID-19 vaccines. But the debate is still going on.
A patent waiver refers to governments' waiver of rights in an invention arising from the research funded by them so that private entities may expedite commercialisation, bringing their technologies from the lab to the market quickly. If the patentability of vaccines is waived, other pharmaceutical companies may not have the access to the technology and materials used for the jabs. As it is an exclusive right of the manufacturers and they may not share the procedure or technologies for the production of vaccines.

Incredibly expensive
It is needless to say that medicines are incredibly expensive to develop. Many experimental drugs fail and it takes years of laboratory experiments on animals before involving humans in it. With the cost of all failures, we can say it costs around $1 billion to invent a drug and get regulatory approval. The COVID-19 vaccine has come up as the greatest invention in the history of mankind. With the start of the vaccine-making race, the patent for the vaccine began.
There are different views on the wavier of the patent to the COVID-19 vaccine. Drug makers and analysts have explained their opinions saying waiving patent rights won't do much to get COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries faster. Making vaccine is far more complex and cannot be achieved by following a recipe. It also requires factories with specialised equipment, highly trained human resources and stringent quality control.
If the waiver is accepted, we can assume that it can be a panacea, especially for the low- and middle-income countries, in the current situation. But most pharmaceutical companies are against it. Their concern is that the manufactures in emerging economies may not support the technology to produce the vaccines. It may open the door to counterfeit vaccines, affecting the supply chain around the world. It can have future complications for the innovative world. The patent is the statutory grant of the exclusive right considering the disclosure of the invention.
If the patent is started to be waived in the case of public emergency, then the question may arise if any pharmaceutical or other companies in the upcoming future will be more efficient and invest in innovations. Seeing from the side of manufacturing companies, it could be a dangerous precedent if the waiver did not work. The incentives in the near future may not be maintained. It won't encourage inventions.
Voluntary licensing can be a good solution to this issue. It provides the manufacturer with the knowhow about producing their vaccines. It can be bilateral or multilateral. It can deal with several issues associated with quality requirements of the produced vaccines. Besides, it helps defines the markets in which license holders can sell the product. Negotiations can also be done directly without any litigation. This will enable technology transfer and economic development in developing countries. It may not threaten the rights of the pharmaceutical companies rather help them to get a good name for the benefit of mankind.
The COVID-19 pandemic has become a threat to the world. Without adequate vaccination, the global economy is unlikely to return to the right track. Thus, vaccination alone is a hope for the whole world to rise again. It is the inoculation that uses our body’s natural defenses to build resistance to specific infections and makes our immune system stronger. Millions of people are now waiting for vaccines and get back to normal life. Having no adequate resources, the developing countries are seeking vaccine support from the developed ones. So, if the vaccine patent is waived, the monopoly of the companies will come to an end and there will be immediate relief to the developing countries. Besides, such nations will also have better access to tests, studies and quality medicines.

Extra vaccines
A temporary waiver to the patent had been done before. The same option can be followed in the present situation as well. If wavier can have negative effects in long-term, then they can go with voluntary licensing, and the rich countries can release their stocks of extra vaccines to the developing countries. Another option is that the developed countries can start purchasing the vaccines from the producers and donating them to the developing countries. The sudden emergence of COVID-19 has left the entire world traumatised. If the people get vaccines as soon as possible, it can be a great relief for them. It would be better if they decide on this matter at the earliest.

(Adhikari is an advocate associated with Apex Law Chamber. snigdhaadhikari7@gmail.com)