There is a well-established body of peer-reviewed research that shows a causal relationship between demand for treatments and medical innovation. It is necessary to encourage investment in manufacturing capacity at the same time as R&D to ensure that effective vaccines, treatments and tests can be scaled up quickly.The most effective approach will involve ‘push’ subsidies for early-stage, risky work and ‘pull’ incentives to guarantee demand for successful technologies.Science and medical research are risky so spending on research should support many independent efforts. Public or philanthropic grant spending on medical research also increases the rate of medical breakthroughs.But the high prices that result from this system slow down access to the technology for low-income populations. The patent system is designed to encourage medical breakthroughs by preventing other firms from producing the technology and competing down prices.Larger markets and higher expected revenue encourage firms to invest in research and development (R&D) and increase innovation.How best can these organisations be given the incentives to develop effective technologies rapidly? And what is the most effective way to encourage rapid manufacture of large quantities of new vaccines and treatments, as well as scaling up production of existing technologies such as tests? What does evidence from economic research tell us? Many laboratories and companies across the world are working on vaccines and drug treatments. As the health and economic costs of the pandemic continue to grow, there is an urgent need for better medical technologies to fight the disease.
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