As the world faces global pandemic, every other company is in the race to find the vaccine. Does the question arise whether the vaccine should be patented or be kept generic?
Considering the resources, infrastructure and the man-power used in the research process for the development of the vaccine, such gathered efforts by the pharmaceutical institutions enable them to access the patent rights.
Section 53 of Patents Act 1970 states that “the tenure of protection of patent is twenty years from the date of filing of the application for the patent”, thus this will make the owners not only protect the product but also remove competition which will make them a superpower in the market to supersede as a monopoly. Also these institutions will be able to recover their preliminary expenses after the grant of patent.
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On the other hand, it has been of peremptory measure to make the vaccine available to the public. This will have an immediate effect throughout the globe and it would also socially benefit all the developing countries at affordable prices. Moderna President Stephen Hoge said in an interview, “We’re not interested in using that IP to decrease the number of vaccines available in a pandemic.”
One solution to this dilemma whether the vaccine should be patented or no is that the government can initiate by providing monetary rewards to the institutes instead of them applying for the patent, in order to encourage the scientists and researchers to strive towards excellence.
Thus, to derive a vaccine, pharmaceuticals should keep in mind the aspects for betterment of the world rather than solely focusing on their profit and improvement.
