The remaking of Big Pharma in a post-pandemic world

COVID-19 has bucked conventional wisdom on how the industry must operate. "Big Pharma and its wealthy government backers have long defended their high prices and strict patent rules by pointing to the need to protect their intellectual property (or IP) given the time and expense involved in research and development. They argue that companies would have little incentive to invest in development without years of high prices first. Only then can they permit widespread production of low-cost generic versions that would benefit everyone." Ethan Guillén and Melissa Chan, writing in Foreign policy explore how the coronavirus outbreak has upended this norm.