Post-pandemic blues of predatory pharma

Huge stockpiles of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, along with a steep drop in revenues, tell a sorry tale of Big Pharma's greed

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WHAT GOES up must come down.Everyone understands that. Businesses know that only too well, because most industries face market cycles. Not the pharmaceutical industry, though, which is insulated from these highs and lows because demand for medicines never goes down, whether the economy shrinks or expands. Now, as the panic and scramble for vaccines becomes a dark memory, Big Pharma is learning how unsustainable its pandemic high of soaring profits was. With projected offtake tapering off sharply since early 2022, especially in the US, a clutch of drug giants is seeing revenues drop by over 40 per cent. These figures reflect poorly on their role during the coVID-19 pandemic, when profits mattered much, much more than patients.

The pandemic years were marked by one of the biggest tussles between rich and developing countries at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over intellectual property rights (IPRS). Why IPRS? Because IPRS, which include patents and trade secrets, had a direct bearing on the ability of the world to meet the demand for desperately needed vaccines and therapeutics to fight COVID-19 through a host of generic companies if they were allowed to override patents during the pandemic. This column covered the issue extensively and predicted from the start that it was a lost cause. The US and the EU, where the vaccines to fight COVID-19 were developed, would not allow even a temporary waiver because of the powerful lobby of Big Pharma (see "Compromise' on TRIPS waiver is a sellout', Down To Earth, 1-15 April, 2022).