When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the innovative pharmaceutical industry came together with the broader global health community and responded with unprecedented speed and scale, overcoming major hurdles along the way.

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    Overview

    IFPMA reacted equally rapidly to the challenge of keeping the global public informed about our members’ actions.

    In March 2020, our industry made seven commitments to communicate, guide, and measure its work in the fight against COVID-19.

    Once the first vaccines were approved and manufacturing scale up had begun, IFPMA members committed to five steps to advance vaccine equity in May 2021. In February 2022, our members continued to draw attention to equity and announced three priorities to urgently increase access to COVID-19 vaccines.

    12.8 billion

    vaccine doses have been administered1

    11

    vaccines have been granted Emergency Use Listing (EUL) by WHO

    1.2 billion

    people remain unvaccinated in lower-income countries2

    A rapid response

    Since the pandemic began, the industry has overcome many obstacles while concentrating on rapidly deploying clinical trials, introducing new and repurposed treatments, and developing and rolling out new vaccines on groundbreaking technological platforms.

    Today, more than 15 billion COVID-19 vaccines have been produced worldwide, facilitated by over 381 partnerships, voluntary licenses, and technology transfers.

    Over 36 treatments have been approved for emergency use or standard of care including antivirals, anti-inflammatories, and monoclonal antibodies. Companies developing COVID-19 treatments entered into over 150 collaborations to expand manufacturing capacity.

    Almost 70% of the global population is now partially vaccinated.

    Advancing equitable access to innovation

    IFPMA is a founding partner of the ACT-Accelerator and is fully committed to the goal of the WHO’s COVAX Pillar to accelerate development, production, and equitable access to safe, effective, and affordable COVID-19 vaccines.

    Almost 70% of the global population is now partially vaccinated. Despite this remarkable achievement, theres still much to be done to achieve COVID-19 vaccine equity.  

    Treatments are another important tool to fight COVID-19. Our industry has tested existing treatments and developed new ones, including antivirals, anti-inflammatories and monoclonal antibodies. It has prioritized equitable access by implementing multiple strategies, including over 150 voluntary licenses and tiered pricing.

    Achieving COVID-19 vaccine equity

    Seven commitments

    The industry laid out a series of seven commitments to communicate, guide, and measure its work in the fight against COVID-19 in March 2020, early in the pandemic. They leveraged their unique expertise in R&D and manufacturing of vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics.

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    Five steps

    To intensify efforts to turn vaccines into vaccinations, in collaboration across key stakeholders, the industry announced a renewed commitment to three priorities to urgently increase access to COVID-19 vaccines in February 2022: country readiness, equitable distribution, and innovation.

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    Three priorities

    In May 2021, after the approval of multiple effective and safe vaccines and the manufacturing scale up was in full swing, IFPMA members committed to five steps to advance vaccine equity, from dose sharing and optimized production to calling for the removal of trade barriers, country readiness, and further innovation.

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    Applying lessons learned from COVID-19

    Alongside its work in tackling COVID-19, the industry began reflecting on lessons learned that can inform how we create a healthier, safer, more equitable world. The innovative pharmaceutical industry proposes to turn these lessons into strategic insights that will guide future efforts to build effective pandemic preparedness and response.

    This culminated in the groundbreaking Berlin Declaration in which industry proposes a framework to improve the real-time delivery of vaccines, treatments and diagnostics for priority populations in lower-income countries for future global pandemics

    Report 22 May 2022

    Applying Lessons Learned from COVID-19 to Create a Healthier, Safer, More Equitable World

    This report identifies 10 insights the biopharmaceutical industry has gathered so far as the world moves into the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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    Pandemic Preparedness

    The innovative pharmaceutical industry is committed to improving pandemic preparedness for the future. IFPMA is helping to lead the way.

    Technology Transfer

    Technology transfer sustainably builds R&D gaps, increase the availability of vaccines and medicines, and stimulates investment in key industrial areas.

    The IFPMA COVID-19 Innovation Timeline

    This pinpoints the pivotal moments of the pharmaceutical industry and our partners’ response to the global pandemic, so that we can hopefully be better prepared for what could come next.

    References

    • 1 As of 30th September 2022
    • 2 As of 22nd May 2022
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