David Knight, partner and Joshua Marshall, senior associate at Fieldfisher discuss the implications the Covid-19 Technology Access Pool is having on innovation in pharma.
Tech abstract
Devising a vaccine to immunise against the coronavirus is a priority for many of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, research facilities and national governments. This "call to arms" is necessary at a humanitarian level, to save as many lives as possible, but also has economic and social implications by allowing people to resume their usual day-to-day lifestyles. However, there remains a concern that a pharmaceutical arms race to produce a vaccine may have the undesired consequence of leaving many low-income countries behind when it comes to immunising against the coronavirus.
The patent system in the UK
The prevailing theory underpinning the patent system is based on a need to incentivise invention. The State agrees to grant the owner of an invention a 20 year legal exclusivity in exchange for a detailed disclosure of the invention and how it works. At the end of the 20 year period, the technology behind the invention falls into the public domain and competitors are free to manufacture their own variants. The theory is that, during those 20 years, the inventor and/or patentee can generate revenue from their invention which, it is hoped, will offset the investment incurred in creating the invention and result in profit. In this sense, the State incentivises innovation through a legal exclusivity as well as disclosure of a technical advancement, which enriches the state of the art to the benefit of everyone.