This is part 2 in our series on global public health and focuses on the impact of intellectual property laws on the development and distribution of pharmaceuticals. The COVID-19 pandemic has stimulated a frenzy of vaccine development never seen before, but also examples of hoarding, price hikes and vaccine nationalism. The crisis has brought together scores of governments, manufactures and philanthropic organisations to pool research outcomes and patents, but the response from big pharma has been mixed. We’ll discuss where the IP rules have come from and where exceptions are sometimes made for public health emergencies. We also discuss how pooled procurement mechanisms and advanced market commitments can help get drugs and vaccines to populations in developing countries and whether COVID-19 can prompt a permanent change to the existing IP regime.

Guests
Dr Owain Williams (University of Leeds)
Associate Professor Peter Hill AFPHM (University of Queensland)
Dr Deborah Gleeson (La Trobe University) 

Production
Written and produced by Mic Cavazzini. Music courtesy of Free Music Archive includes ‘Let Us Overcome’ by Tayler Watts, ‘Passages’, ‘Global Warming’ and ‘Salue’ by Kai Engel, ‘Electro Cool’ by 4T Thieves, ‘Capgras’ by Ben Carey and ‘Sunstorm’ by ELFL. Image licenced from Getty Images. 

Editorial feedback for this episode was kindly provided by physicians of the RACP’s Podcast Editorial Group; Sern Wei Yeoh, Leah Krischock, Saion Chaterjee, Priya Garg, Victoria Langton and Joseph Lee

Please visit the RACP website for a transcript embedded with citations. Fellows of the College can claim CPD credits for listening and additional reading.