Pharmalittle: G20 nations water down Covid-19 IP waiver; Biden hopes to grow U.S. share of global vaccine market

By Ed Silverman May 18, 2021

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Alex Hogan/STAT

Top of the morning to you, and a fine one it is. We enjoy this saying, but it is very true today. A delicious breeze and clear, blue skies are enveloping the buzzing Pharmalot campus this morning. Despite the gorgeous weather, however, there is much to keep us in front of the laptop: deadlines, online calls, to-do lists that grow faster than weeds. This sounds familiar, yes? So time to get started with a few tidbits. Have a wonderful day, and drop us a line if you hear anything interesting. …

Leaders of the world’s largest economies back “voluntary licensing” of Covid-19 vaccine patents, watering down a U.S. push for waivers and earlier commitments to supply more funds to the World Health Organization, Reuters reports. The draft document lists commitments of G20 nations and other countries and is to be adopted on Friday at a Global Health Summit in Rome, one of this year’s major events to coordinate global actions against the pandemic. The draft, which is still subject to changes, is the result of a compromise among experts from G20 nations, which remain divided over the waiving of intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines.

President Biden began to make good on his promise that the U.S. would be an “arsenal” of coronavirus vaccines for the world, announcing the U.S. will share authorized shots after criticism that his administration had hoarded hundreds of millions of doses, Bloomberg News reports. But he also signaled he intends for U.S. manufacturers to hold or grow their share of the global market for vaccines, casting his decision to begin supplying other countries as an engine for American jobs.

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