Favorable Drug Pricing Language In COVID-19 Government Contracts May Backfire for Industry

Pharma has won pricing battles during the pandemic, but doesn’t seem to be winning war as senators on both sides of the aisle question how some drug companies were able to skirt controversial intellectual property ownership issues in COVID-19 drug and vaccine agreements with the US government. IP experts say the biggest harm to the government from the contracting language may not be the pricing concerns but the government’s ability to share leanings from the partnerships with other coronavirus development programs.

US NIH Director Francis Collins holds a 3D model of coronavirus during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on 2 July. The Pharma industry hopes that Collins’ view of ‘march-in’ rights becomes the model for government and public opinion.