It's disturbing to see an otherwise important analysis neglect the issue private industry control over supply, price, and distribution of mpox medical technologies. There is very brief attention to ensuring equitable and affordable access, but not real calling out of the need to address intellectual property and technology transfer barriers that impede governments' responses and unnecessarily strain resources needed to respond to ongoing mpox outbreaks. The major producer of mpox approved vaccines, Bavarian Nordic, has artificially restricted supplies and kept prices at 20+ times the costs of production while prioritizing stockpiling by rich countries instead of access to countries at the center of the mpox emergency. Unless the issue of actually requiring equitable access via licensing and technology transfer is addressed in the Pandemic Treaty negotiations, every pandemic will see the delays and inequalities that have plagued the covid and mpox responses. Even if such licensing and tech transfer is mandated, there must also be enforceable provisions concerning affordable pricing and equitable supply/allocation according to need to essential health technologies facing monopoly or oligopolist control.
It's disturbing to see an otherwise important analysis neglect the issue private industry control over supply, price, and distribution of mpox medical technologies. There is very brief attention to ensuring equitable and affordable access, but not real calling out of the need to address intellectual property and technology transfer barriers that impede governments' responses and unnecessarily strain resources needed to respond to ongoing mpox outbreaks. The major producer of mpox approved vaccines, Bavarian Nordic, has artificially restricted supplies and kept prices at 20+ times the costs of production while prioritizing stockpiling by rich countries instead of access to countries at the center of the mpox emergency. Unless the issue of actually requiring equitable access via licensing and technology transfer is addressed in the Pandemic Treaty negotiations, every pandemic will see the delays and inequalities that have plagued the covid and mpox responses. Even if such licensing and tech transfer is mandated, there must also be enforceable provisions concerning affordable pricing and equitable supply/allocation according to need to essential health technologies facing monopoly or oligopolist control.