Health
Why trade secrets matter: Covid vaccine manufacturing scale-up and the WTO’s proposed IP waiver
Geneva Network is organising a discussion on the role of trade secrets in Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing. A panel of global experts, including Innovation Council’s own Mark Schultz, will shed light on how this important intellectual property right works, how it relates to vaccine manufacturing, and the implications of the IP waiver currently under discussion at the WTO.
The webinar will take place on September 14, 2021: 13.00 – 14.00 GMT.
Waiving IP Rights: The Wrong Path to the Right Goals
Daniel J. Staudt, current President of the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO), explains in this article that waiving intellectual property (IP) protections for COVID-19 vaccines will hinder—rather than further—three meritorious objectives of the current U.S. Presidential Administration: ending the pandemic as soon as possible, levelling the IP playing field with China, and pursuing a worker-centric trade policy. In addition, a full and frank discussion of the real challenges at hand must take place, in order to support the continued efforts of vaccine manufacturers to identify—and engage with—new potential partners with whom they can create more manufacturing capacity. Only through such discussions can the challenges of globally distributing high-quality vaccines be truly addressed.
Biotechnology applications poised for multi-sector growth across APAC
Biotechnology has fundamental applications across multiple sectors that are critical to the growth of economies around the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. The key factors driving this growth include favourable government initiatives, plummeting sequencing prices, growing market demand for synthetic biology, and increasing R&D investments by the public and private sectors. Asia Pacific’s biotech market is expected to expand even faster in the future, with a CAGR of 16.8% from now until 2028. This speed can be attributed to improvements in healthcare infrastructure, supportive government policies, clinical trial services, and epidemiological factors.
Trade restrictions are delaying the COVID response. The WTO must act
Together with Thaddeus Burns, Innovation Council member Merck LF, Jennifer Brant has co-authored a paper on the delay in the COVID response caused by trade restrictions and explains why the WTO must act. The human costs of the pandemic, already dire, continue to mount. Vaccines against COVID have been developed at an unprecedented pace through a series of unprecedented partnerships. But this is not the end of the story; there is still an urgent need to expand vaccine protection worldwide, including through the expansion of biologic drug production capacity.
Q&A with Innovation Council member Villgro Africa
Innovation Council sat down with Wilfred Njagi, Co-Founder and CEO of Villgro Africa to learn more about the success story and lessons learned. The healthcare business incubator has a demonstrated track record having incubated over 30 healthcare innovators in East Africa that have gone on to increase access to affordable, superior quality healthcare in E. Africa touching over 2 million lives in the last 5 years.
Q&A with Innovation Council member Medixus
Innovation Council sat down with Nicole Kayode, Founder and CEO of Medixus to talk about her passion for health and social impact tech. She created a communication, collaboration and learning platform for doctors aimed at improving case management and clinical practice. Medixus believes that quality patient care relies on smooth communication between healthcare professionals, and access to resources that will further their development.
Panelists Discuss Why Patent Waiver Would Not Accelerate Global Vaccine Distribution
At a panel held in June by The Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA), two vaccine scientists, Professor Robin Shattock (Imperial College, London) and Dr. Anne Moore (University College Cork) discussed their thoughts on why a patent waiver related to COVID-19 vaccines would not speed up vaccine distribution in lower income countries.
Read the full story.
Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine: A global assessment of demand and supply balance
Over the past decade, several countries–representing all regions, income groups, and procurement methods—have been unable to secure sufficient BCG vaccine supply. While the frequency of stock-outs has remained rather stable, their duration increased in 2014–2015 due to manufacturing issues, attracting the attention of national, regional and global immunization stakeholders. This prompted an in-depth analysis of supply and demand dynamics which aimed to characterize supply risks. This analysis is unique, as it provides a global picture where previous analyses have focused only on a portion of the market that procures vaccines through UN entities. Through a literature review, supplier interviews, and the appraisal of shortages, stock-outs, and historical procurement data, as well as through demand forecasting, this analysis shows an important increase in global capacity in 2017: supply is sufficient to meet forecasted BCG vaccine demand and possibly buffer market shocks. Nevertheless, risks remain, mainly due to supply concentration, limited investment in production process improvements, and inflexibility of demand.
‘Landmark initiative’: Ramaphosa, Macron announce new SA-based Covid-19 vaccine hub
President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that France would invest in boosting the production of COVID-19 vaccines in Africa, in order to help close the gap in vaccine availability between African and Western nations. South African Innovation Council member Biovac, which has a partnership with France, has partnered with African Biologics and Vaccines (a network of universities) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to establish Africa’s first Covid messenger RNA vaccine technology transfer hub.