HomeBusiness NewsCOVID-19 vaccine profits create 9 new billionaires: Report

COVID-19 vaccine profits create 9 new billionaires: Report

For some vaccine manufacturers, COVID-19 has turned out to be a windfall. So now we have nine new billionaires, who include the chiefs of Moderna, BioNTech and CanSino Biologics. Meanwhile, a vaccine advocacy group has asked the pharma cos to end 'monopoly control' over patents.

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By CNBCTV18.com May 20, 2021, 7:38:10 PM IST (Updated)

COVID-19 vaccine profits create 9 new billionaires: Report
The profits reaped by pharmaceutical companies from their COVID-19 vaccines have created enough wealth to create nine new billionaires out of the pandemic. A vaccine advocacy group released a statement asking pharmaceutical companies to end "monopoly control" on COVID-19 vaccine patents and technology.


The People’s Vaccine Alliance said in its statement, “The nine new billionaires have a combined net wealth of $19.3 billion (15.8 billion euros), enough to fully vaccinate all people in low-income countries 1.3 times.”

Eight individuals, already existing billionaires, saw a combined increase of wealth by $32.2 billion from profits and contracts that large pharmaceuticals have made for the COVID-19 vaccine roll out.

Some of the nouveau billionaires were Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel, BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin, and the three co-founders of CanSino Biologics.

The advocacy group campaigning to make vaccines patent free has been asking for companies to waive patent rights and provide technological assistance so that low-income nations can successfully vaccinate their populations.

But the pharmaceutical companies have responded that waiving patents won’t suddenly increase vaccine production.

Even as India asks for support for temporary patent waivers in the WTO, which will require a unanimous vote from the members, India’s own pharmaceutical CEOs say that waivers alone will not be enough.

Biocon’s executive chairperson Kiran Mazumdar Shaw said the stumbling block for vaccination is production volume and not patent rights. Dr Sharvil Patel, MD of Zydus Cadila, said even with patent waivers it would be hard to make the same vaccines without technology transfer.

Critics also pointed out that even though Moderna has stated it would not enforce any patent rights during the period of the pandemic, no government or company has taken the offer of producing its mRNA vaccine.

The matter will be up for discussion at the G20 Health Summit on May 21 where many countries might show support for waiving vaccine patents but a unanimous decision seems unlikely.

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