Mr. Dimitri Eynikel:

I thank the committee for inviting us to speak at this session. We both work on the Covid-19 response, particularly in peaks of the pandemic and here and there with the roll-out of vaccines. We also work on access to treatments, which we have not talked about but which I hope we can get back to, in addition to vaccines and diagnostics.

On the research and development cost, I disagree a little with the position that has been presented. It is true that the research and development of vaccines is risky and takes much investment. There is a big chance of failure; however, exactly for that reason; we have seen very little investment by the industry in vaccine development in recent decades, except when there were major outbreaks. When there were outbreaks, there was significant public funding. This happened with Ebola. We can see a very similar situation now with the Covid-19 pandemic. It was known that coronaviruses posed a serious threat of pandemic and epidemic outbreaks but there was very little investment. When the outbreak came, significant funding was made available and advance-purchase agreements were signed, etc. That is what created the enabling conditions. The intellectual property rights existed before the outbreak. There could have been investments in that regard but they did not happen. I am happy that, at European level, the European Health Emergency preparedness and Response Authority, HERA, is being created precisely to provide significant funding to enable research and development efforts to protect us from diseases.

On the second element I want to address, let us bear in mind what the waiver is: it is an option for countries. It is not about the abolition of intellectual property rights across the board. The waiver of intellectual property rights is a temporary one that countries can use for a few years. It will not harm intellectual property rights in Europe or in the US, for example.