Patent withdrawal is nonsense: Biontech earns a lot of money, and rightly so

Biontech comes under fire. The demand is getting louder that the group should release licenses for its corona vaccine. That's a very bad idea.

Left-wing politicians, activists and their sympathizers have found a new target amid the pandemic: Biontech. They find it unacceptable that developers of life-saving, excellent vaccines should make a lot of money. And they are demanding that pharmaceutical companies lose patent protection. In other words, they want success to be punished.

Of course, it is desirable that more vaccine be produced quickly. But production cannot be accelerated simply by sharing licenses and know-how. The production of the new messenger RNA vaccines is far too complex for that.

For this reason, among other things, Biontech and Curevac have looked for larger partners. And they have long been ensuring what their critics demand. You enter into cooperations including tech transfer and thereby ramp up production. Just one example: Sanofi will probably produce the vaccine developed by Biontech and Pfizer in Frankfurt from summer onwards.

That's a long time in the midst of a pandemic. But you can't just rebuild plants and start up vaccine production. The loss of patent rights would not quickly create new capacities.

Instead, it would cause immense damage. When companies face the risk of losing licenses and patents, the incentive to develop drugs or vaccines diminishes. Because they invest large sums of money in development without knowing whether their products will even be ready for the market. This is an immense risk that sinks a lot of money on most projects. This is precisely why they are dependent on the few blockbusters that allow them to continue research and development.

Wrong way

Yes, the federal government has given vaccine companies a lot of money, but only when it is likely that they will actually be able to develop the much-needed vaccines. Before that, companies and investors took full risk for years when the prospects of success were completely unclear. Without this risk, the Biontech vaccine would not exist, nor would Curevac's next promising product from Germany be about to be approved.

It is perfectly okay that high risk is rewarded with high profits when successful. This is precisely why there are so many innovations in capitalism – from which we all benefit. It's embarrassing: Biontech and other vaccine developers are accused of charging too high prices. Regardless of the fact that it is completely unclear how much money the companies make from the vaccines, the prices are ridiculous in relation to the economic, social and psychological costs that a lockdown causes.

To withdraw patents from the companies that produce highly effective vaccines in record time is completely absurd. For corporations and startups, that would also be a terrible signal – and fatal for Germany as a research location.

It's not the vaccine developers or the market that are failing in the pandemic. Politics is the right addressee for this accusation. Lockdown cacophony, serious errors when ordering or widespread lack of concept: when dealing with the pandemic there is – to put it in a friendly way – plenty of room for improvement.

Let's be glad that at least the vaccines are there. Tens of millions of cans will be delivered in the coming weeks. If politicians succeed in ensuring smooth and fair distribution, the end of the pandemic will be in sight.

With the withdrawal of patents, the risk increases that there will be no vaccine anytime soon in the next crisis.

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