"‘Biden's Attitude is Harmful’: US Pharmaceutical Industry Runs Anti-IP Waiver Ads Targeting Google and Facebook"

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the largest lobbying group in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry, has launched a full-scale campaign opposing the vaccine intellectual property (IP) waiver declared by President Joe Biden last month.

On the 1st (local time), U.S. economic media CNBC reported, "PhRMA has been running digital ads targeting President Biden's support for the IP waiver on Google and Facebook since the end of last month."

After analyzing Google and Facebook's advertising records, CNBC found that PhRMA began posting ads opposing the IP waiver immediately after President Biden officially announced his support for waiving vaccine IP rights on the 5th of last month.

The Google ads directly mentioned President Biden's name. Representative phrases included "Biden's stance on vaccines is harmful" and "Biden is undermining intellectual property rights."

Clicking on the ads leads to articles written by PhRMA's communications team and posted on their official website. One article claimed, "The Biden administration is allowing politics to overturn the pharmaceutical industry's practical pandemic response," adding, "This not only fails to help save lives worldwide but could also harm American patients."

The ads ran for five days at the end of last month, mostly targeting Washington D.C. and nearby areas where the White House is located. CNBC stated, "For one ad, the advertising cost ranged from at least $1,000 to $50,000, while some were under $100."

While PhRMA posted various ad phrases on Google, it used only one phrase on Facebook: "The IP waiver undermines the global pandemic response and compromises safety." Depending on the ad placement, this reached up to one million people. CNBC noted, "The Facebook ads targeted Washington D.C., Virginia, and Maryland," adding, "They have since been taken down."

PhRMA had already been lobbying the White House on IP-related issues well before launching this ad campaign.

Meanwhile, major countries including those in Europe proposed a third way instead of waiving IP rights. The joint declaration they adopted at the World Health Summit on the 21st of last month did not include a temporary waiver of IP rights. It only contained provisions aiming to promote voluntary technology and know-how transfer, patent consent, and data sharing under mutually agreed conditions.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, stated, "We will propose a third way on the vaccine IP issue to the World Trade Organization (WTO)."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.