Blog

COVID-19 has caused immense economic damage since the outbreak began spreading throughout the world in early 2020, and it has caused a major upheaval in the pharmaceutical industry worldwide. Its effects may forever alter how innovation & intellectual property function in the industry-leading to long-lasting alterations in how pharmaceutical companies do business.

The Pharmaceutical Industry Has Made An Unprecedented Shift To Find A Vaccine

Since the beginning of 2020, there have been nearly 30 million cases of COVID-19 coronavirus worldwide, causing almost a million deaths, with countries like The United States being hit particularly hard by the virus.

Because of this, a huge amount of funding has been provided to pharmaceutical companies in an effort to find a vaccine – as well as drugs that may help inhibit the symptoms and side effects of the COVID-19 Coronavirus.

The US government alone has awarded $9 billion in vaccine contracts. With 172 different countries showing interest in engaging private and public institutions to develop a vaccine, an unprecedented flow of funding is reaching pharmaceutical companies worldwide.

The Future Of Intellectual Property May Change In The Post Corona COVID 19 Era

As COVID-19 has shown, the innovation & intellectual property practices used by the pharmaceutical industries are not always helpful for the public good.

When multiple corporations are competing to respond to a major public health crisis, such as COVID-19, there is a risk that they will invest their time and energy in developing products that are unnecessary – duplicating each other’s efforts, and slowing down the process of developing a successful pharmaceutical product to treat COVID-19.

Because of this, it’s possible that in the post corona COVID 19 era, national governments may impose restrictions on these companies – requiring them to share the information about pharmaceutical products, trials, and other details in a collected pool of knowledge.

In fact, cooperating and sharing innovation & intellectual property when facing a serious threat like COVID 19 may be beneficial to the industry as a whole, and lead to higher profits. Why? Because COVID 19 has caused an expected 8% drop in global economic output, which is one of the largest economic shocks in recent history.

By taking steps to prevent another pandemic in the future – and working closely with one another if a new virus does spread worldwide – companies in the pharmaceutical industry can help preserve the global economy, and benefit from stronger sales as a whole.

COVID-19 Shows The Limitations Of Intellectual Property For Innovation

Innovation and intellectual property always go hand-in-hand. Sharing research and findings is currently rare in the pharmaceutical industry, where trade secrets are closely guarded.
But in the post corona COVID 19 era, this may not be the case. We think it’s likely that many pharmaceutical companies will see the benefits of working with each other, and create strategic alliances, mergers, and take other actions to improve R&D and create pharmaceutical products more quickly and efficiently.