Health

In case of the EU’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the tens of billions of euros the EU spends on purchasing vaccines from powerful pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer, the European Parliament has renounced its' key task of budgetary control.

Last month, almost two years after we filed Freedom of Information (FOI) requests concerning COVID-19 vaccine contracts and negotiations between the EU and pharmaceutical companies, Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) experienced a small breakthrough in our ongoing fight for transparency.

Almost two years after lobby watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) filed Freedom of Information (FOI) requests concerning the Covid-19 vaccine contracts and negotiations between the EU and pharmaceutical companies, the European Commission has published a final batch of 275 documents.

In the run up to the World Trade Organisation summit in December 2021, negotiations over a waiver of patents on COVID-19 medical products are entering a crucial stage. The waiver, so far blocked by the EU, is desperately needed to scale up global production of vaccines to help the world get out of the pandemic. Unfortunately the EU’s policies for getting these medicines on the market – the Therapeutics Strategy – pays no attention to securing global access and affordability.

In this special Summer episode we bring you the true story of how the EU has been dealing with the covid-19 pandemic so far and why it seems to have a deep love affair with Big Pharma.

On 20 May the EU Council of Ministers discussed their collective position over a proposal to waive Big Pharma’s patent monopolies on COVID vaccines and treatment. But they are keeping these crucial discussions hidden behind closed doors. It’s only thanks to leaked documents that we have an insight into the official Council position – the EU member states’ common position – on one of the major global political battles of our time.

Big Pharma is currently waging a fierce lobbying battle to protect its monopoly patent rights for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. While Corporate Europe Observatory broadly outlines the sector's lobby spending, this is likely to be an underestimate of Big Pharma's true firepower; and up-to-date lobbying information and details are hard to come by. Weak EU lobby transparency rules are hampering the public scrutiny that is more needed than ever now during the pandemic.

Who meets the European Commission to discuss the scarcity of COVID vaccines and medicines in Europe and globally? An investigation of recent meetings show a disconcerting pattern: only those not questioning big pharma’s monopoly on patents seem to be allowed in. While mega-philanthropist Bill Gates and the pro-patent lobby are a powerful force influencing the EU’s response, proponents of COVID technology-sharing face closed doors.

The self-serving arguments used by big pharma lobbyists at meetings with the European Commission to defend monopoly intellectual property rights on vaccines are demonstrably false. Corporate Europe Observatory has uncovered new documents from December 2020 which reveal how big pharma’s arguments – essentially, to ‘keep the patents in our hands, and trust us to distribute vaccines’ – contrast sharply with the current state-of-affairs: few in low-income countries will be vaccinated any time soon.

How did EU governments decide to oppose a global measure that could boost production of COVID vaccines and medicines for the global south? You won’t get the slightest hint from official EU sources. But leaked documents reveal that the Commission and member states see the real problem as a mere PR issue of how to deflect criticism. Given the pandemic, their position seems indefensible.

Big Tobacco has been influencing policy to its advantage for decades—postponing, protesting, promoting untruths, playing the victim and pushing new technologies—in order to disrupt tobacco control policies. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) is the best global tool to combat tobacco industry interference, providing clear guidelines to protect public health policies and reduce tobacco-related deaths.

To secure a rapid and sufficient supply of vaccines and medicines, the global south has asked for a waiver of intellectual property rights. But despite the gravity of the situation, that is rejected outright by the EU. That should not come as a surprise. A briefing from CEO outlines the EU's traditional role as a staunch defender of big pharma monopolies, and how the push for provisions on 'data exclusivity' in trade agreements with third countries have seeked to undermine even existing flexibility under international rules.