Getting Drugs to More People Faster
November 8, 2021
Pfizer is close to introducing an easy-to-take pill that greatly reduces the chances of hospitalization and death in high-risk people infected with the COVID-19 virus. Among its distribution efforts, the company says it plans to license other firms to manufacture the pill to make it more widely available. This approach aligns with the argument Ken Shadlen makes in Issues, that licensing should be key in distributing drugs, including COVID vaccines. Indeed, he writes that “firms should be encouraged—and given specific incentives—to license and share their technologies widely, and to build large networks of licensees to manufacture and distribute at scale.”