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| A medical worker prepares to administer a COVID-19 vaccine shot at a public inoculation center in Yongsan, Seoul, Monday. Yonhap |
By Bahk Eun-ji
Many Koreans are paying keen attention to whether the United States' endorsement of waiving COVID-19 vaccine patents to increase global production will bolster supply here and help the country achieve herd immunity by November.
However, the health authorities and local pharmaceutical industry remain cautious about the prospect, saying that the possible waiver will not lead to the immediate production of a vaccine locally, citing uncertain factors, including when and for how long the patent protections will be eased.
On Wednesday (local time), the Joe Biden administration expressed its support for a move to temporarily lift intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines amid a global shortage.
The activation of the patent waiver, which is intended to promote the production of generic drugs in other countries, means that drug manufacturers will have to give up the right to exercise ownership of their patents.
If the waiver takes effect, Korea is expected to be able to produce generics relatively more easily and could become vaccine self-sufficient as it has a considerable number of drug manufacturing facilities.
However, experts believe that there are a large number of problems to solve prior to reaching that stage.
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| U.S. President Joe Biden takes questions from reporters as he speaks about the American Rescue Plan, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Wednesday, in Washington. AP-Yonhap |
Pharmaceutical companies giving up exercising their patent rights does not mean that they are required to disclose their technologies.
"If the World Trade Organization adopts the support for the waiver on intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, the situation will get better in many countries struggling with vaccine shortages," said Sohn Young-rae, a senior health official in a briefing.
"However, discussion over how far the scope of technology disclosure will be made, and whether countries can produce similar vaccines will remain as challenges," the official added.
Baek Young-ha, head of Korea's vaccine introduction team also said, "This is in the early stage of discussion and we are closely monitoring the trend. But the government maintains the principle of supporting domestic development of vaccines."
Korea is in a relatively advantageous position, but the problem is that only one or two of the country's pharmaceutical companies can produce messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines.
"Most pharmaceutical companies here are focusing more on producing raw vaccine solutions. Additional facility investments are required for the process of dispensing the vaccine solution into containers to make a finished product," said an official of the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association.
The supply shortage of raw materials will be also a problem. With increasing demand for vaccines around the world, the supply shortage could worsen if production plants increase while raw materials and subsidiary materials are still scarce.
In addition, even if the patent protections are lifted, it may be difficult to manufacture virtually identical vaccines as information on the technological aspects required for manufacturing particular vaccines may not be disclosed.
"There will be no direct advantages for the domestic vaccine industry in the short term, so we have to consider the benefits of domestic vaccine development against production of generic drugs," said an official of a domestic pharmaceutical company who wished to remain anonymous.
