Sometimes the sheer stupidity, posturing, and lack of insight by policymakers are breathtaking. As a form of virtue signaling, the Biden administration has just announced U.S. support at the World Health Organization (under TRIPS, the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) for waivers of patents on COVID-19 vaccines.
Patents are widely misunderstood. They do not so much permit the holder to do something; rather, they prohibit others from copying the patented “invention,” and, thereby, can be very valuable. Patents are an incentive to undertake high-risk, expensive research and development that might be uneconomic if there weren’t a period of exclusive rights to sell the fruits of that work and thus repay the investment. Otherwise, imagine telling a drug company that has just spent, on average, 10 to 12 years and more than billions of dollars to bring a new, innovative cancer drug to market that, upon its regulatory approval, every other company could start making and selling the drug.
