Several stakeholders play an important role, including educational institutions, universities, and courts. But government policies still need to prioritize IP and be geared to encouraging entrepreneurs and the private sector to continue to move science forward.

At the most basic level, government policies to nurture domestic scientific communities and develop stable and transparent legal systems go a long way in encouraging innovation.

Stability in industrial and healthcare policy helps reduce the investment risks of innovators in both the public and private sectors. This encourages them to develop the sort of long-term research plans and investment projects that characterize the pharmaceutical industry.

Upgrading the levels of education and skills in the science stream is necessary to contribute to each stage of the pharma innovation process, from the earliest days of product development to large-scale clinical testing.

Countries with strong education systems contribute to a dynamic workforce that can sustainably replenish research positions over generations.

IFPMA advocates for these policies in different fora, showcasing how they enable solutions for existing and future ailments, diseases, and pandemics, and how IP is critical to achieving the SDG 2030 Agenda.

Over two decades of investment powering tenacious R&D laid the groundwork for the record-shattering development timelines of the mRNA and viral vector vaccines and treatments to mitigate COVID-19 disease.

Global legal frameworks supporting innovation were essential to the continuous pursuit of safe and effective tools against COVID-19.

They underpinned collaboration between pharmaceutical innovators and governments, universities, and other research partners to speed progress on hundreds of potential COVID 19 diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines.

IP assures collaborators that their technologies can be securely shared, and effective, safe vaccines produced.

This has given companies the confidence to conclude more than 380 voluntary technology transfer agreements to expand the manufacturing scale-up of COVID-19 vaccines.

The IP framework has also enabled companies to enter into 138 voluntary manufacturing arrangements for COVID-19 treatments. Over 92% of these collaborations involved technology transfer, and 43 came within the first year of the pandemic.

Historically, the majority of innovative pharmaceutical R&D has taken place in higher-income countries.

In today’s globalized, interconnected, and fast-moving world, there is a growing need to empower people worldwide to find creative solutions to the different health challenges we face.

There are a variety of tools available to encourage a favorable environment for each stage of the R&D process, from basic research to clinical trials.