Vaccine makers see off push to share Covid know-how

Three of the world’s largest Covid vaccine manufacturers have fended off attempts to get them to share know-how for their vaccinations.

A group of investors presented proposals to the annual general meetings of Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna, but they were rejected.

They argued that sharing this intellectual property would accelerate vaccine adoption by boosting manufacturing.

But drugmakers say they are making doses faster than they can be used.

According to the head of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, more than 11.4 billion doses of vaccine have now been distributed worldwide, even though a third of the world’s population has not received a single dose.

He took the unprecedented step of addressing Moderna’s annual general meeting (AGM) and said helping them ramp up vaccine production “would save lives, reduce the risk of variants and lessen the economic toll of the pandemic.”

But his argument that “global injustice would lead to many more deaths” wasn’t enough to convince shareholders. Only 24% supported the idea of ​​the company conducting a feasibility study on transferring intellectual property and technical know-how to manufacturers in low- and middle-income countries.

Among Pfizer shareholders, only 27.3% supported a similar motion. Johnson & Johnson hasn’t published any numbers yet, but the proposal failed there too.

Netherlands-based Achmea Investment Management leads a group of 65 firms that together control $3.5 trillion in assets and support the idea.

“I think a significant number of investors have supported us in taking these moves,” Frank Wagemans, senior engagement specialist at Achmea, told the BBC.

But he added: “We need more in the coming months and years because we know the Covid pandemic is not over yet.”

He said it was a “small win” that Moderna introduced at least some link between executive bonuses and how well the company is meeting demand for Covid vaccines from less affluent countries.

“Global economic recovery continues to be hampered by unequal access to tools to prevent and treat Covid-19,” International Monetary Fund economist Ruchir Agarwal told the BBC.

The development body says improved adoption could help boost the global economy by $9 trillion by 2025.

Last year, Moderna shipped 807 million doses of Covid vaccines, generating a profit of $12.2 billion. More than a quarter of that went to low- and middle-income countries.

The board laid out the case against the shareholder proposal, saying it could have delivered more had it not been for the “last mile” difficulties, citing Africa as an example.

These issues include cooling capacity, health worker availability and vaccine reluctance. The US-based company also says it is working with its partners to ramp up production and is building a manufacturing facility in Kenya to increase future vaccine availability.

Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, which developed its vaccine with BioNTech, told shareholders that 3.4 billion vaccine doses have now been distributed in 179 countries.

Opposing the sharing of its intellectual property, the company’s board of directors argued that “vaccine manufacturing is a biological production that is extraordinarily complex” involving 280 ingredients from 86 suppliers in 19 countries. They added that there is a risk for patients if other manufacturers cannot meet all the requirements to properly manufacture their vaccines.

Production will expand to four billion cans this year, with a quarter going to less affluent countries. Those on the lowest incomes are getting the vaccines at cost, Mr Bourla told shareholders.

Johnson & Johnson has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from US taxpayers to develop its vaccine. It says it worked with the African Union Alliance and Covax last year to provide 900 million doses at a charitable price and is working on a licensing deal with an African company that would ensure safety standards are met.

The intellectual property sharing proposals were submitted by Oxfam USA, which owns shares in each of the drug companies, allowing it to push for changes.

All three’s arguments against the motions “do not hold water,” according to Oxfam USA’s Robbie Silverman.

“What the donation-based status quo has achieved is 74% immunization rates in rich countries and 12% immunization rates in poor countries,” he said.

Vaccine reluctance has been exaggerated by drugmakers, he told the BBC, adding that a system controlled by a few giant companies has caused distribution problems.

“It makes it very difficult to plan on site when you don’t know how many cans are coming,” he said.

“Lower income countries say give us the tools we need to make our own cans for our own citizens and that manufacturing locally will solve many problems.”

Achmea’s Mr Wagemans is optimistic that change is yet to come, saying it would take time to change company policy and the votes had sent a “strong message to management”.