What They Are Saying: Collaboration is key to combat COVID-19 in Southeast Asia

Across Southeast Asia and around the world, global cooperation and public-private partnerships help cultivate an unprecedented amount of scientific knowledge; these efforts are helping researchers in the biopharmaceutical industry quickly uncover and advance new medicines for patients. As the industry continues to develop COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, these partnerships—backed by strong intellectual property rights—will enable new research into innovative ideas for medicines.

Industry experts continue to highlight the critical role public-private partnerships play in promoting innovation and incentivizing ongoing investment in new discoveries. Here are some of their thoughts:

• “The COVID-19 pandemic is not business as usual, and is far from over. This is why there is need for strong commitment to work in innovative ways, to collaborate with each other, and to enter into public and private partnerships. These partnerships are coming from the research pharmaceutical industry’s deep scientific knowledge gained from decades of experience working on developing solutions for combatting a range of infectious diseases such as MERS, SARS, Ebola and influenza, as well as experience working with health authorities and regulators to find a fast-tracked approach to bringing safe and effective medicines, vaccines and diagnostics to patients.” – Teodoro B. Padilla, Executive Director of the Pharmaceutical & Healthcare Association of the Philippines, in ABS-CBN News
•  “Global IP cooperation has taken on a greater importance and urgency during the pandemic, especially given the many new medical discoveries that are being made in the fight against COVID-19. The agreements will strengthen global partnerships, which will in turn make it easier and faster for enterprises to respond to the pandemic and grow their business worldwide using Singapore as a hub for their IP activities.” – Rena Lee, Chief Executive of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore, in Global Legal Post
•  “In the fight against COVID-19, the world is already benefitting from public-private partnerships, with collaborations to find new, innovative solutions, identify novel applications for previous discoveries or seek opportunities to scale, and increase access to needed therapies. Cooperation between governments and private sector manufacturers will be vital as new vaccines and coronavirus treatments come online. The entire society must be working toward the same goal: making sure all patients in all countries have access to safe, affordable vaccines and treatments for COVID-19.” – IP Progress

Strong public-private partnerships and global collaborations between researchers and manufacturers are vital to Southeast Asia’s growing innovation ecosystem and ultimately defeating COVID-19. Government officials throughout the region should be mindful of these perspectives and support efforts to seek new ways to aid in discovering innovative therapies and vaccines, like those in development to treat COVID-19.