Lessons from a Pandemic: On Shared Development and Equal Access to Essential Cures and Vaccines

The article aims to reconstruct and analyze some relevant issues of pharmaceutical product development, access to treatment and market discipline, which were confirmed or emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic. Particular attention is paid to some possible solutions in this regard, starting with the idea, today debated at an international level, of a new «anti-pandemic» treaty. An analysis of current R&D dynamics is also provided, together with a critical assessment of the efficacy of compulsory licenses (now foreseen also by the Italian law), taking into account the cooperative relationships that should shape the protection of fundamental human rights and the management of shared emergencies. A series of exemplary market stories drawn from the chronicles of the pandemic will serve to highlight the relevance of some legislative and regulatory reforms in order to protect the representation of public interests when non-profit investing in research is granted, thereby supporting the principle «no financiation without representation», as well as for guaranteeing a more shared preparation to future emergencies.