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Inequitable access to the fruits of research during the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the urgency — and feasibility — of overhauling the R&D system.
10 February 2022
Soumya Swaminathan, Bernard Pécoul, Hisham Abdullah, Christos Christou, Glenda Gray, Carel IJsselmuiden, Marie Paule Kieny, Mariana Mazzucato, Veronika von Messling, Bernhards Ogutu, John Reeder, John-Arne Røttingen, Renu Swarup, Marcel Tanner, Nísia Trindade Lima, Michelle Childs, Alex Harris, Els Torreele & Suerie Moon
COVID-19 diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines are powerful reminders: health technologies can help to shape the way in which societies control disease. Challenges in ensur-
ing global, equitable access to these fruits of biomedical research and development (R&D) during the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the urgency of reorienting the system towards the public interest. The first step is a clearer articulation of what R&D in the global public interest is. That is what we seek to do here.
There are four major concerns about biomedical R&D, despite its impressive technological advances amid profound transformations in how knowledge is gener- ated and used. The first is the lack of medi- cines in areas where market incentives are inadequate to attract private investment, such as for neglected diseases of poverty, bacterial infections and emerging infectious diseases1. Second is the slow pace of progress in some areas, such as Alzheimer’s disease2. Third is the risk of harm, such as adverse drug reactions. The final concern is restricted access to tech- nologies, caused by high prices, insufficient production or inadequate supply3.
These concerns pre-date the emergence of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, but the pandemic has underscored the urgency of addressing them. That requires looking beyond just one country or sector. ...
10 February 2022
Soumya Swaminathan, Bernard Pécoul, Hisham Abdullah, Christos Christou, Glenda Gray, Carel IJsselmuiden, Marie Paule Kieny, Mariana Mazzucato, Veronika von Messling, Bernhards Ogutu, John Reeder, John-Arne Røttingen, Renu Swarup, Marcel Tanner, Nísia Trindade Lima, Michelle Childs, Alex Harris, Els Torreele & Suerie Moon
COVID-19 diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines are powerful reminders: health technologies can help to shape the way in which societies control disease. Challenges in ensur-
ing global, equitable access to these fruits of biomedical research and development (R&D) during the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the urgency of reorienting the system towards the public interest. The first step is a clearer articulation of what R&D in the global public interest is. That is what we seek to do here.
There are four major concerns about biomedical R&D, despite its impressive technological advances amid profound transformations in how knowledge is gener- ated and used. The first is the lack of medi- cines in areas where market incentives are inadequate to attract private investment, such as for neglected diseases of poverty, bacterial infections and emerging infectious diseases1. Second is the slow pace of progress in some areas, such as Alzheimer’s disease2. Third is the risk of harm, such as adverse drug reactions. The final concern is restricted access to tech- nologies, caused by high prices, insufficient production or inadequate supply3.
These concerns pre-date the emergence of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, but the pandemic has underscored the urgency of addressing them. That requires looking beyond just one country or sector. ...
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