Pharma association president tempers expectations over vaccine patents waiver

The President of the Panhellenic Union of Pharmaceutical Industries, Theodoros Tryfon, said on Friday that production of a coronavirus vaccine in Greece could take up to sixteen months even if the patents were waived.

“The capability to create a factory from scratch, even if one possesses the technical know-how, takes time to ensure that the Greek product would live up to all European, American, or international standards and that takes approximately 12 to 16 months,” he said in an interview with SKAI television news. 

Tryfon went on to say that even vaccine production companies that collaborate with the intellectual property or patent holders require 6 to 8 months to adapt. 

“There is no similar vaccine in production in Greece,” he said.

Tryfon also shared his estimation on how a vaccine patent waiver negotiation could look like. He emphasized negotiations will look very different depending on whether state funds were used to develop a vaccine or whether the costs of development were wholly in-house.

“It might end up being a negotiation between the United States and Pfizer or Moderna to find the price that they might be willing to waive the patent. I am almost certain for my part, that they will not give them up for free,” he said.

US President Joe Biden recently proposed to waive vaccine patents.