Explained: Why patents on Covid vaccines are so contentious

New York - Here’s a look at what patents do and why they matter

The Biden administration’s call to lift patent protections on Covid-19 vaccines to help poor parts of the world get more doses has drawn praise from some countries and health advocates

The Biden administration’s call to lift patent protections on Covid-19 vaccines to help poor parts of the world get more doses has drawn praise from some countries and health advocates.

But it has run into resistance from the pharmaceutical industry and others, who say it won’t help curb the outbreak any time soon and will hurt innovation.

Here’s a look at what patents do and why they matter:

How do drug patents work?

Patents reward innovation by preventing competitors from simply copying a company’s discovery and launching a rival product. In the US, patents on medicines typically last 20 years from when they are filed, which usually happens once a drugmaker thinks it has an important or lucrative drug. Because it often takes a decade to get a drug approved, companies typically enjoy about a dozen years of competition-free sales. But drugmakers usually find ways to improve their product or widen its use, and they secure additional patents that can extend their monopoly for many more years.

Why is patent protection so important to drugmakers?

Medicines are incredibly expensive to develop. Most experimental drugs fail at some point during the years of laboratory, animal and finally human testing. Averaging in the cost of those flops, it typically costs over $1 billion to bring a drug from discovery to regulatory approval. Without the prospect of years of sales without competition, there’s far less incentive to take that risk.

Why is US backing efforts to lift protections on Covid-19 vaccines?

The Biden administration has been under intense pressure, including from many Democrats in Congress, to get more Covid-19 vaccines to the rest of the world. Support for the waiver idea floated by India and South Africa in October has been growing in other countries while the outbreak worsens in some places, especially India.

Why have the US and others opposed lifting protections in the past?

The US and some other wealthy countries lead the world in many areas of research and innovation, particularly medicines. Aside from the prestige that confers, pharmaceutical companies provide millions of well-paying jobs, generate tax revenue and provide new medicines that can save or improve lives. Drugmakers and their trade groups spend millions every year lobbying governments to maintain the status quo on patents.

Why is the industry so opposed to the effort?