How should drug companies handle the coronavirus pandemic?

Scientists around the world are racing to find a vaccine and a cure for the coronavirus.

Governments are pledging millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money for research in public and private firms.

The global vaccine market is estimated to be worth nearly $60bn annually.

Pharmaceutical companies have been criticised in the past for being too slow in combatting diseases such as SARS and Ebola and charging high prices for new drug treatments.

So what should be done to ensure they do not put profit before saving lives?

Presenter: Maryam Nemazee

Guests:

Gustav Ando – Executive Director for the Economics and Country Risk Life Sciences practice, IHS Markit

Gerald Posner – Investigative journalist and author of Pharma: Greed, Lies and the Poisoning of America

Andre Spicer – Professor of Organisational Behaviour, Cass Business School, City University of London