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21 July 2022Big PharmaSarah Speight

Biopharma group urges fairer access to pandemic protection

Global industry body launches declaration | Poorer nations could benefit from more equitable vaccine access | Proposal to be tabled among G7 and G20.

The global biopharmaceutical industry has pledged to support greater equitable access to vaccines in future pandemics following COVID-19.

The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations ( IFPMA) is proposing to the G7 and G20 a joint solution to improve access for poorer nations to vaccines and treatments in future pandemics.

In the announcement this week, on July 19, the group launched the “ Berlin Declaration – biopharmaceutical industry vision for equitable access in pandemics”, named after the Biopharmaceutical CEOs Roundtable in Berlin in June in which the group secured the endorsement of the CEOs of all its member companies.

IFPMA, whose 38 members include Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and Novartis, said it aims to “create a collaborative solution for more equitable rollout of vaccines, treatments and diagnostics for future pandemics”.

Thomas Cueni, director general of IFPMA, said: “As outlined in the declaration, industry commits to take measures, in partnership with governments, to help ensure that authorised pandemic vaccines and treatments are available and affordable in countries of all income levels, including via donations, not-for-profit supply, voluntary licences or equity-based tiered pricing based on countries’ needs and capabilities, or any other innovative mechanism as during COVID-19.”

The Berlin Declaration, he said, is building on a strong foundation of partnership across industry which has been forged over the past two years.

“One of the learnings from the pandemic is that for future pandemics, we need the whole system to be ready to work, in making good on collective promises to ‘leave no one behind’.”

The declaration, he said, is based on a deep  analysis of lessons learned from COVID-19.

A multilateral approach

As well as calling on world leaders, IFPMA is addressing multilateral organisations and decision makers involved in addressing the threat of the present and future pandemics. It also urges other stakeholders in the biopharmaceutical industry to help achieve their goal.

The proposal put forth by the Berlin Declaration could help ensure  “even more equitable” rollout of vaccines, treatments and diagnostics, delivered as early as possible, to those who need them most, said IFPMA.

The group highlights that the industry developed COVID-19 vaccines and treatments at “record speed and in historic quantities”.

IFPMA is now offering to prioritise production and the distribution of vaccines to people in lower income countries.

Support where it’s needed

For the declaration to succeed, said IFPMA, health systems in lower income countries should be better prepared to absorb and deliver vaccines and treatments, and high-income countries should provide the necessary political and financial support.

“The declaration underscores the necessity for a strong innovation ecosystem, grounded in intellectual property rights, and the removal of trade and regulatory barriers to export,” it said.

While it acknowledges the unprecedented scale of innovation and manufacturing during COVID-19, IFPMA argues that efforts to achieve equitable access were “not fully realised because of inadequate financing mechanisms upfront and a lack of country readiness, which still inhibits the vaccines from getting to every arm that needs it”.

In the event of future pandemics, the declaration states that it is “critical” to ensure adequate technical and health infrastructure, human resources and financial capacity as well as political support to successfully vaccinate, test and care for their populations.

Added to that, the success of the proposal requires open borders and no trade restrictions, it said.

A ‘new social contract’

IFPMA's Cueni said in a statement: “With all stakeholders collaborating and playing their part, we can make sure that the efforts, investments, learnings and losses seen during COVID-19 are not in vain, but rather help shape a future where everyone is better protected from the threat of pandemics.”

José Manuel Barroso, Gavi chair and COVAX co-chair added: “I applaud IFPMA and industry leaders for seizing the initiative. We saw effective innovation and manufacturing scaling up with this pandemic; but we also saw the challenges we had to overcome to get the vaccines to all those who needed them.

“The industry’s commitment to reserve part of production of vaccines and treatments in real time for vulnerable populations in low-income countries provides an opportunity to work together strategically to forge a new social contract.

“I hope that political leaders will do their part and engage with industry on how to make this work.”

IFPMA represents research-based pharmaceutical companies and associations worldwide, an industry comprising 2 million employees.

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