| No, it's not. The article argues that patents are irrelevant, since the know-how of drug manufacturing is the only thing that really matters. This would definitely be news to the drug companies, who spend fortunes depending their patents. And yes, of course know-how matters, but forgoing patent litigation removes at least one obstacle for competitors and it's a charitable thing for Moderna to do. In this particular instance, I'm perfectly fine with Moderna making a fortune off of their vaccines. The prices they are charging (~$35/dose) are simply not astronomical, especially compared to the damage of this pandemic. But the issue right now is that even with all the money in the world, there's only so much capacity to manufacture these drugs. To get a vaccine off the ground you need to: 1) Have the expertise to develop it in the first place (probably the easy part) 2) Test the vaccine to rigorous standards (costs a fortune) 3) Have the manufacturing facilities to make the drug 4) Have the people to run said facilities 5) Source all the ingredients that go into the vaccine as well as containers to hold it and the refrigerators to store and transport it (good luck) This article would have you believe that the Moderna leadership are filthy capitalists and if it weren't for them the vaccines would be widely available, but money simply isn't the issue here... it's a worldwide shortage of materials and talent, as well as government regulations that make it incredibly hard to bring a drug to market (but not unjustified... as we see, it's very important to have public confidence in the safety of a vaccine). |