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Patents for Covid-19 vaccines are based on public research: a case study on the privatization of knowledge

Author

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  • Massimo FLORIO

    (Department of Economics, Management, and Quantitative Methods, Università degli Studi di Milano (Italy))

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to reconsider the relationship between public and private research and development (R&D). The policy issue is whether, over the next 20 years, governments’ only negotiating position on biomedical technologies will be to sign one purchase contract after another and transfer value from tax payers to investors in pharmaceutical companies. Knowledge and technologies that are crucial to Covid-19 vaccine development and production were created with the contribution of governments. Patents filed by pharma companies do not protect the public interest arising from such earlier research. The paper offers a case study on the privatization of knowledge created in the first place by R&D in the public sector or supported by public funds and eventually being appropriated by pharmaceutical corporations.

Suggested Citation

  • Massimo FLORIO, 2021. "Patents for Covid-19 vaccines are based on public research: a case study on the privatization of knowledge," CIRIEC Working Papers 2103, CIRIEC - Université de Liège.
    • Handle: RePEc:crc:wpaper:2103
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    File URL: https://www.ciriec.uliege.be/repec/WP21-03.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Peter Kedron & Sharmistha Bagchi-Sen, 2012. "Foreign direct investment in Europe by multinational pharmaceutical companies from India," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 12(4), pages 809-839, July.
    2. Robert N. Kirchdoerfer & Christopher A. Cottrell & Nianshuang Wang & Jesper Pallesen & Hadi M. Yassine & Hannah L. Turner & Kizzmekia S. Corbett & Barney S. Graham & Jason S. McLellan & Andrew B. Ward, 2016. "Pre-fusion structure of a human coronavirus spike protein," Nature, Nature, vol. 531(7592), pages 118-121, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Heinrich, Torsten & Yang, Jangho, 2022. "Innovation in times of Covid-19," MPRA Paper 115809, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Torsten Heinrich & Jangho Yang, 2022. "Innovation in times of Covid-19," Papers 2212.14159, arXiv.org.
    3. Torsten Heinrich & Jangho Yang, 2022. "Innovation in times of Covid-19," Chemnitz Economic Papers 058, Department of Economics, Chemnitz University of Technology.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID 19 pandemic; vaccines; public and private R&D; Big Pharma; public funding; USA;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H51 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Health
    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • L32 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Public Enterprises; Public-Private Enterprises
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D

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