Major Pharma Companies Support Global Access to COVID-19 Vaccine

AstraZeneca, Gilead, Johnson & Johnson, and other major pharmaceutical companies recently backed efforts to expand global access to COVID-19 vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics.

In a joint statement released by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the companies extolled pandemic research and development efforts, such as the creation of novel COVID-19 treatments and vaccines. But said the innovations are not enough to stop the pandemic, they said.

“Through partnerships with other stakeholders we are committed to ensuring global access to diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines that will help to accelerate the end of the pandemic,” the joint statement read.

To ensure global access to innovations, like COVID-19 vaccines, the Gates Foundation and major pharmaceutical companies said they will partner with other global health stakeholders to strengthen health systems and distribution networks. This will ensure innovations reach individuals in various settings. 

The coalition will also call on governments, multilateral institutions, companies, and non-governmental organizations to help with financial resources, assets, infrastructure, and jurisdictional support.

The organizations will help to provide sufficient, dedicated, sustainable, and timely funding, the statement said. Additionally, they will continue to quickly develop and communicate clear guidance on product needs in lower-resource settings as early as possible.

This will help with the delivery of necessary tools to combat the pandemic.

Additionally, the outside resources will help to:

• Diversify representation in critical decision making
• Advance fit-for-purpose regulatory and liability processes for all stakeholders
• Build and maintain public confidence in the approval mechanisms for diagnostics
• Enhance country readiness and in-country delivery systems

The Gates Foundation also highlighted additional plans to ensure global access to innovations for all patients. 

These steps include efforts to develop innovations for patients worldwide, scaling up manufacturing at unprecedented speed and much earlier than usual, enabling affordability for products in lower income countries, and maintaining public confidence in innovations.   

“The world’s extraordinary situation requires unprecedented collaboration across every part of society,” the Foundation said in the joint statement.  

“To date, we as life science and philanthropic organizations have risen to this challenge and recognize the need to push further. The commitments above will save lives only if partners across the entire development-to-deployment pathway work together to guarantee products reach the people who need them.”

Global access to COVID-19 vaccines has been a top priority for most world leaders.

At the end of September, 64 higher-income economies joined the COVAX Facility, the vaccine pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, an initiative co-led by WHO, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, and the Vaccine Alliance. 

One-hundred fifty-six economies, which represent about 64 percent of the global population, will be committed or eligible for the COVAX Facility. The organization highlighted that it expects more economies to follow. 

But the US was not on a list of confirmed or intended to confirm Facility participants. 

“The health, social, and economic impacts can only be addressed through the collective actions of stakeholders across private, public, and philanthropic sectors in partnership with civil society,” pharmaceutical companies said in the joint statement.