Vaccines: The EU is at the mercy of Big Pharma – VoxEurop (Français)

The vaccine business remains in the hands of the pharmaceutical industry giants. During a European Council video conference on 25-26 February, the 27 heads of state and government failed to take a hard line against the monopoly of Big Pharma. Manufacturers retain control of supply, prices and revenue. 

However, in addition to their own factories, pharma giants also rely on smaller, specialized companies located in several European countries. These smaller companies get a slice of the amount equating to about 30 billion euro that taxpayers in member states will pay for their vaccine supplies. Right now, every single penny stays within this restricted circle.

The announcement that Sanofi has committed to co-produce the Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, while waiting for the completion of clinical trials and approval by the European Medicines Agency of its own vaccine (developed with GSK), is just the tip of the iceberg. Our investigation reveals a dense network between the giants that signed supply contracts with the European Commission. In addition to Sanofi/GSK, the signatories include Pfizer/Biontech, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and Moderna (both of which have vaccines already approved and marketed). The American company Novavax, French Valneva and Italian Reithera, with whom Brussels has already begun negotiations, will also be added to that list. 

The two successive supply cuts by AstraZeneca (60 and 50 percent cuts in the first and second quarters of 2021, respectively), Pfizer’s delays, plus Sanofi’s delayed clinical trials, risk slowing both the immunization campaign and Member States’ economic recovery.

However, the text of the European Council conclusions merely urges companies to ensure predictability and meet delivery deadlines. There is no suggestion of obliging companies to share technologies and licenses so that third parties can produce and distribute vaccines themselves, except for companies already part of their private chain. 

According to news leaked on the eve of the summit, such a strategy to deal with the supply crisis had been discussed behind the scenes. The EU could, i…