More than two years after the Covid-19 pandemic emerged, a new scorecard finds that 19 of 26 pharmaceutical companies that marketed vaccines or therapeutics to contain the virus rank poorly when it came to complying with human rights principles.
The rankings were compiled by examining actions taken to provide access to products, including commitments and measurable targets; transparency in disclosing R&D and production costs, and profits; the extent to which international cooperation was pursued and patents were enforced; and a willingness to provide fair pricing, equitable distribution, and technology transfers, among other things.
“The scorecard shows that pharma can do better, that people should prevail over profit, and that human rights are powerful principles to hold industry accountable,” said Wilbert Bannenberg, who heads the Pharmaceutical Accountability Foundation, a nonprofit that compiled the rankings, in a statement. “But there are too few companies performing well to restore the power balance in favor of human rights.”
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