Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is calling on global pharmaceutical leaders to get behind proposals laid out in a World Health Organization-led global pandemic preparedness agreement that’s nearing completion.
On Thursday, Sanders wrote to the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations, a global industry group led by Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla and David Reddy, the group’s director general. Sanders, who helms the Senate HELP Committee and has made pressuring drugmakers a cornerstone of his political and policy efforts, urged the group to do more to make sure treatments are accessible.
“The products you develop must be made available around the world quickly and affordably,” Sanders wrote. “At the very least, you should not challenge governments negotiating new rules to make medicines more accessible.”
The WHO is in the process of drafting a treaty known as the Pandemic Accord, which outlines member countries’ responsibilities to procure treatments, tests and vaccines in the event of a global outbreak of disease. Negotiations have been ongoing since 2021 and are set to be finalized at the World Health Assembly next month.
The IFPMA — which represents the likes of pharma giants Eli Lilly and Pfizer — has been vocal in its opposition to some measures proposed in a draft, including recommendations that governments exercise flexibility with intellectual property rights during a pandemic. The group raised concerns this past fall that the draft accord would hold up innovation and slow down the international response to a future pandemic.
“It is critical that this agreement strengthens our ability to respond to the next pandemic, supporting the development of the vaccines and treatments we will need and ensuring equitable access to them,” an IFPMA spokesperson said in a statement to Endpoints News.
Sanders gave the group until May 9 to respond to a list of questions, including how much public funding IFPMA members received to develop Covid-19 tests, treatment and vaccines. He also asked the group to commit to reasonable pricing and technology-sharing measures.
The letter also asked them to agree to not push back against developing countries that use flexibilities under the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, which establishes minimum standards for member countries’ IP regulation, and he asks them to share a list of the group’s member companies and current legally binding equitable access commitments.
Sanders said in the letter that he may ask Bourla and Reddy to further explain their stance before the Senate HELP Committee.