E-DRUG: The Pharmaceutical Accountability Foundation scores pharmaceutical
companies' behaviour regarding Covid-19
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https://www.farmaterverantwoording.nl/covid-19
The Pharmaceutical Accountability Foundation scores pharmaceutical
companies' behaviour regarding Covid-19.
Conclusion: Big differences in adherence to human rights principles
Bergeijk (the Netherlands), 22 January 2021
The Pharmaceutical Accountability Foundation (PAF) publishes today a
scorecard of pharmaceutical companies that develop important vaccines and
pharmaceuticals for the Corona pandemic.
'Despite their almost unanimous endorsement of human rights principles that ensure fair, global access to vaccines and pharmaceuticals, in reality,
companies' behaviour does not reflect such principles', says Wilbert
Bannenberg, chairperson of PAF. 'Their policy to ensure that people get
actual access to their Covid-19 products leaves a lot to be desired.'
The Pharmaceutical Accountability Foundation formulated 18 'Good Covid-19
Company Practices'. Practices that adhere to these principles should result
in faster and more equitable global distribution of Covid-19 vaccines and
pharmaceuticals during the pandemic. PAF monitored the companies'
behaviour and gave the companies a score on each criterium it has
formulated.
These scores can be found in the GCCP scorecard (
http://www.farmaterverantwoording.nl/en/covid-19/gccp-scorecard/)
Pharmaceutical companies have a special responsibility to contribute to the
realisation of human rights and access to medicines for all.
Tools like the Good Covid-19 Company Practices (GCCP) emphasise crucial
steps for companies to deliver on their responsibilities.
'Contrary to some companies' willingness to relinquish some profits on
their Covid-19 products, all seven companies seem to hold on tightly to
their intellectual property rights. This limits the global production
capacity and prolongs the duration of the pandemic unnecessarily', says
lawyer Tessa Jolan Jager, coordinator of the study.
The scorecards published today score vaccine- and pharmaceutical
manufacturers' behaviour on human rights principles.
Some key findings:
- Five out of seven manufacturers publicly endorsed the UN Guiding
Principles on Business and Human Rights
https://www.ohchr.org/documents/publications/guidingprinciplesbusinesshr_en.pdf
- All seven companies published the results of their clinical trials.
- The seven companies are however less transparent on the development
costs, the costs of production and the profit margins of their Covid-19
products.
- Only a few companies are willing to sell their Covid-19 vaccines or
pharmaceuticals at a not-for-profit price.
- Only one company pledged to not enforce its patent rights for their
Covid-19 product.
- Despite that all seven companies published their (limited) production
capacity, they are reluctant to create access to licenses, knowledge and
technology to manufacturers in low- and middle-income countries. These
decisions prolong the global shortage of Covid-19 medicines. Also, none of
the companies published a clear plan to redress the unequal distribution of
Covid-19 products.
- No company has shared its knowledge, skills and intellectual property
with the Covid-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) yet. The Pool was
specially established in May 2020 by the World Health Organization for this
purpose.
More info on
http://www.farmaterverantwoording.nl/covid-19 or per email
mailto:gccp@ftv1.nl (Tessa Jolan Jager)
Wilbert Bannenberg, public health consultant
Chairperson, Pharmaceutical Accountability Foundation
Netherlands
Wilbert Bannenberg <voorzitter@farmaterverantwoording.nl>