With deaths related to the coronavirus continuing to rise globally, the race between big pharma’s research departments has forced those companies to pump funds into a cause that may prove entirely fruitless.
“There will of course be winners and losers in the race to find a vaccine,” according to Dr Nicholas Jones, partner and patent attorney at Withers & Rogers, which specialises in pharmaceutical and life sciences sectors. “Winners can expect some commercial reward for their efforts. However, margins could be minimal for some players and could even be non-existent in some cases,” he said, via email.
Earlier this month, the UK government accepted the recommendation from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in approving the Pfizer and BioNtech coronavirus vaccine