India

Waiving intellectual property rights won’t raise vax production, says pharma body

PNS

The Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India) on Monday said waiving intellectual property rights will not lead to increased production of Covid-19 vaccines, as it is not the barrier to their adequate availability in India. The industry body said it is cognizant that with the rising Covid-19 cases in India and other developing nations, there is an urgency to rapidly-produce greater quantities of Covid-19 vaccine. Vaccine manufacturing is a complex process and scaling up capacities involves the transfer of critical know-how, it added. The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) has already opposed the transfer of Intellectual Property (IP) waiver saying a waiver is the simple but the wrong answer to what is a complex problem.