Listen: Exploring Controversial Efforts to Waive Drugmakers’ Vaccine Patent Rights

President Joe Biden has thrown his support to an international effort to waive drugmakers’ patent rights on the covid vaccines, but the pharmaceutical industry vows to fight back. Julie Rovner, KHN’s chief Washington correspondent, joins The Atlantic’s “Social Distance” podcast, hosted by Dr. James Hamblin and Maeve Higgins, to talk about the current patent controversy and how the drug industry has protected itself over the years with vibrant campaigns about the needs for high profits to support drug development.

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<h1>Listen: Exploring Controversial Efforts to Waive Drugmakers’ Vaccine Patent Rights</h1>
<div>		<time class="posted-on" datetime="2021-05-14T05:00:00-04:00">
			May 14, 2021		</time>
		</div>
<p>President Joe Biden has thrown his support to an international effort to waive drugmakers’ patent rights on the covid vaccines, but the pharmaceutical industry vows to fight back. Julie Rovner, KHN’s chief Washington correspondent, joins The Atlantic’s “Social Distance” podcast, hosted by Dr. James Hamblin and Maeve Higgins, to talk about the current patent controversy and how the drug industry has protected itself over the years with vibrant campaigns about the needs for high profits to support drug development.</p><ul><li><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/listen-pandemics-patents-and-profits/?share=x">				Click to share on X (Opens in new window)				X			</a></li><li><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/listen-pandemics-patents-and-profits/?share=facebook">				Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)				Facebook			</a></li><li><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/listen-pandemics-patents-and-profits/?share=linkedin">				Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)				LinkedIn			</a></li><li><a href="mailto:?subject=%5BShared%20Post%5D%20Listen%3A%20Exploring%20Controversial%20Efforts%20to%20Waive%20Drugmakers%E2%80%99%20Vaccine%20Patent%20Rights&body=https%3A%2F%2Fkffhealthnews.org%2FMTMwOTM1OA&share=email">				Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)				Email			</a></li><li><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/listen-pandemics-patents-and-profits/#print?share=print">				Click to print (Opens in new window)				Print			</a></li><li>				<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/listen-pandemics-patents-and-profits/view/republish/">					Republish This Story				</a>			</li></ul><em><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/about-us">KFF Health News</a> is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about <a href="https://www.kff.org/about-us">KFF</a>.</em><p><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/morning-briefing/">Subscribe</a> to KFF Health News' free Morning Briefing.</p><p>This <a target="_blank" href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/listen-pandemics-patents-and-profits/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://kffhealthnews.org">KFF Health News</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/kffhealthnews-icon.png?w=150" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://kffhealthnews.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=1309358&amp;ga4=G-J74WWTKFM0" style="width:1px;height:1px;"></p>

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