WHO launches COVID-19 patent pool into headwinds

The World Health Organization launched its COVID-19 patent pool Friday facing significant obstacles that include a lack of support from China, the U.K. and the U.S., as well as pushback from leading pharma executives who see the initiative as dangerous and unnecessary.

The WHO’s COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP), which has the support of 30 countries and several international partners and institutions, seeks to pool data, knowledge and IP for COVID-19 countermeasures to be shared equitably around the globe (see “World Leaders Call for Pooling Resources”)...