Last checked at 
* Three vaccine candidates lead global race
* Pharma industry group sees seven more by mid-2021
* Warns against calls for compulsory licensing
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Ten COVID-19 vaccines could be
available by the middle of next year if they win regulatory
approval, but their inventors need patent protection, the head
of the global pharmaceutical industry group said on Friday.
Vaccines by Pfizer and BioNtech, as well
as Moderna and AstraZeneca have shown promising
results in large clinical trials, but there is no question of
"cutting corners", said Thomas Cueni, director-general of the
International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and
Associations (IFPMA).
"So far 3 we have 3 out of 3 were hits. I would expect that
we will see something similar with Johnson & Johnson, I
would expect that we would see similar positive results with
Novavax, and many others, Sanofi Pasteur, GSK
are in there, Merck," he said.
'Big Pharma' and biotech firms have invested heavily in
research and development and in boosting manufacturing during
the pandemic to be able to roll out vaccine doses, Cueni told a
Geneva news briefing.
It would be a mistake to lift patent protection to allow
compulsory licensing and try to make vaccines requiring such
complex quality assurance without expert staff and quality
control procedures, he said.
"We will hopefully by the next summer have probably 10
vaccines which have proven their value. But all of them really
need to be submitted by rigorous scientific scrutiny by the
regulators."
At the World Trade Organization (WTO), India and South
Africa have proposed allowing a temporary waiver to allow
compulsory licensing for patented products during the pandemic.
The United States, European Union and Switzerland and others
have rejected it, trade officials say.
Cueni, asked about the proposal, said: "For me this
questioning of IP is really primarily politics, but it's
politics which is not helpful because it would send very
negative signals in terms of disrespect to the system which
allowed the world to react so fast and so responsibly."
Vaccine manufacturing plants often need 50 quality assurance
staff making hundreds of checks during production, he said,
emphasising that the companies would not exploit the pandemic.
Cueni said that IFPMA archives showed there had never been a
compulsory license granted for a vaccine and pointed to the
difficult technology and know-how. Nearly every member company
had committed to "not-for-profit" or socially responsible
pricing during the pandemic, he added.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay and Philippa Fletcher)
