Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the effect of pharmaceutical companies control of intellectual property on UK capacity to manufacturing covid-19 (a) vaccines and (b) therapeutic treatments.

The Government considers that the Intellectual Property (IP) framework has played an essential and positive role in the response to the pandemic. It has provided confidence for pharmaceutical innovators to both invest in R&D and form collaborative manufacturing partnerships, built upon trust and cooperation, thereby driving innovation. These voluntary licensing and technology transfer partnerships, have contributed to the rapid production of COVID-19 technologies, including unprecedented levels of manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines. IP has and will continue to allow us to meet our ultimate goal of saving lives.