Bharat Biotech Vaccine
Fair Pharma Scorecard
Applying human rights to pharma
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The company should publicly commit to human rights in relation to product development and marketing, by adopting an official human rights policy statement recognising the right to the highest attainable standard of health. The company should endeavour to integrate human rights into its strategies, policies, programmes, projects, and activities.
The company should also have a publicly available global access plan for their Covid-19 product, based on human rights standards, with measurable targets and lines of accountability.
Bharat Biotech has not published a global access plan for its vaccine.
Bharat BioTech has a corporate social responsibility policy, but this does not mention human rights.
The company should constructively engage with international initiatives for the equitable distribution of vaccines and therapeutics, such as the Covid-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) or the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), and the ACT Accelerator (COVAX). The company should also publicly commit to not enforcing the exclusive rights of Covid-19 related patents, and enter into non-exclusive, transparent licensing agreements for its Covid-19 products with other companies.
Bharat Biotech has not committed to a responsible licensing mechanism such as C-TAP or the MPP.
Bharat BioTech is in discussions with the ACT Accelerator for possible use of its vaccine. On April 02nd 2022, the WHO ‘suspended supply through United Nations agencies of Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin, produced by India’s Bharat Biotech, to allow the manufacturer to upgrade facilities and address deficiencies found in an inspection.’
Covaxin was co-developed by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Bharat BioTech. Ownership of the vaccine is unclear: the Indian government has licensed the vaccine to the Haffkine Institute under a fill and finish arrangement.
The company should engage in efforts to further equitable distribution of Covid-19 vaccines/therapeutics, by equitably distributing its supplies globally, devising fair pricing strategies, and making the active ingredient for its product available to other manufacturers. The company should also engage in full technology transfer to other manufacturers, including the necessary transfer of skills, legal components, knowledge and intellectual property. Where applicable, the company should agree to waive rights in regulatory test data, and refrain from enforcing TRIPS+ measures.
[Only applies to therapeutics]
Bharat Biotech has deals with other companies to produce the vaccine, but the details of these arrangements are unclear. The deal with the Haffkine institute seems to be for ‘fill-and-finish’, rather than full technology transfer. Moreover, Bharat Biotech has contested the Indian Council of Medical Research’s contribution to the vaccine development, and seems reluctant to transfer its technology to other manufacturers. See C4.
Bharat Biotech intends to sell its vaccine abroad for around 19 US dollars per dose, making it the 3rd most expensive vaccine globally. Krishna Ella from Bharat Biotech famously declared last year that the vaccine would cost less than a fifth of the cost of a water bottle. The company has not declared any non-profit or tiered pricing strategy.
As of January 2022, Bharat Biotech has delivered 98% of its doses to middle-income countries (India, Mauritius, and the Philippines).
