After political leaders across the globe made patents and other intellectual property safeguards the scapegoat for disparities in access to COVID-19 vaccines, the biopharma industry is sharing its vision for how to deal with the foundational issues of equitable access in pandemics to come – and it has nothing to do with IP waivers like the one World Trade Organization members adopted last month.

GSK plc, formerly Glaxosmithkline plc, has begun a significant new chapter in its history with the spin-off this week of its consumer business known as Haleon plc. While the high-profile new listing of Weybridge, Surrey-based Haleon (LON:HLN), the largest in Europe in a decade, grabbed the headlines, investors are keeping a sharp eye on GSK now that it is free to focus on developing and marketing novel drugs.

Although it’s a latecomer to the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., there is a wedge of opportunity for Novavax Inc.’s adjuvanted protein-based vaccine among the 10% of the U.S. adult population that has yet to get a first jab.

Oxford University has opened the doors to its new Pandemic Sciences Institute, a £100 million (US$119.5 million) initiative to build on the research and experience of COVID-19, to counter future pandemic threats.

The U.S. FDA’s guidance to COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers, announced June 30, that they should develop modified bivalent boosters that include an omicron BA.4/5 spike protein component marks the beginning of a new era in the pandemic in which manufacturers are no longer driving the development of the vaccines.

With vaccines now authorized for children as young as six months, omicron boosters in development for the fall, and the nation’s first protein subunit vaccine for COVID-19 pending authorization, the U.S. appears to be well on its way to exiting the turmoil caused by the deadly SARS-CoV-2 virus. Globally, there is reason for optimism as well.

Pfizer Inc. and Biontech SE have signed a deal with the U.S. government to supply up to 300 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in a deal worth more than $3.2 billion. Depending on the U.S. FDA, the vaccine doses fulfilling the order may include the companies’ omicron-adapted candidate, which they reported June 25 demonstrated a high immune response against the omicron BA.1 subvariant of SARS-CoV-2, when given as a fourth booster.