Roche CEO joins alliance against abandoning COVID vaccine patents

In early May, US President Biden announced an appeal to major pharmaceutical manufacturers to abandon patents for COVID-19 vaccines.

A few days ago, Roche CEO Severin Schwan publicly stated that he joined the opposition and further stated that this move would lead to "disaster.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Schwan said that giving up patent rights would “backfire” and would not make up for the shortage of supply in the short term.

Earlier this month, the Biden government unexpectedly took an action to support a proposal made by the World Trade Organization (WTO) that would temporarily suspend patent rights for COVID-19 products.

At present, the mainstream leading COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers, including the CEOs of Pfizer, Moderna and BioNTech, have also publicly expressed their opposition to the proposal.

Stephane Bancel, the head of Moderna, could not agree with Biden's decision.

Although Roche has not yet entered the field of COVID-19 vaccines, it has developed many COVID-19 diagnostic tests during the pandemic and is trying to use its rheumatoid arthritis drug Actemra for hospitalized patients with new coronary pneumonia.

However, the intellectual property exemption supported by the United States has received weak support from civil society.

Reference source: Roche CEO Schwan joins chorus of pharma execs blasting COVID patent waiver