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In many cases, a pharmacy's most valuable asset is its NHS contract. This is what buyers are paying for - the right to provide pharmaceutical services commissioned by the NHS and be reimbursed for the medicines dispensed. However, a pharmacy consists of more than just an NHS contract and when buyers look for a pharmacy to buy, they will also examine these other areas - the pharmacy's customer base, its staff, the property it operates from - to name a few - because these are all also crucial to a successful pharmacy. In this day and age, another important consideration is the pharmacy's intellectual property (IP) i.e. the pharmacy's rights to certain types of information, ideas, and forms of expression. At the most basic level, this includes the trade mark in the name of the pharmacy, because all pharmacies will have a name by which they distinguish themselves from other pharmacies. The more well-known the name, the more valuable this form of IP is - mention 'Boots', for example, and most will have an instant association with the largest pharmaceutical retailer in the UK.

An alliance of companies has pledged to ensure equitable access to vaccines and treatments for pandemics, as the friction around intellectual property rights for Covid-19 interventions between the pharmaceutical industry and developing nations endures. At the heart of the plan is a commitment to set aside part of the production of vaccines and treatments upfront for vulnerable populations in low-income countries when the next pandemic arises, given how fragmented access to Covid tools has left many populations unprotected. In order to do better next time - and without knowing which companies will develop the first drugs and vaccines for the next pandemic - having the industry collectively make this commitment is potentially transformative, said Thomas Cueni, head of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA). The pledge, called the Berlin Declaration, was made on July 19 by members of the global pharmaceutical industry group that include many of the companies involved in developing Covid interventions, such as AstraZeneca, GSK, Moderna, Pfizer and Merck. The declaration is not legally binding. However, if a company that signed on reneges on its vow, it would face grave consequences in the court of public opinion, said Cueni.

British drugmaker GSK has signed deals with three companies allowing them to make inexpensive generic versions of its long-acting HIV preventive medicine for use in lower-income countries, where the majority of new HIV cases occur. The injected drug cabotegravir is approved by regulators in Britain and the United States. Last July, GSK announced a program with the United Nations-backed healthcare organisation, the Medicines Patent Pool, aiming to get poor countries access to new HIV therapies far earlier than they did for previous HIV medicines. During the HIV/AIDs epidemic in Africa in the 1990s and early 2000s, in which many millions of people died, treatments used widely in wealthy countries were unavailable on the continent. GSK said last year the new program could result in the generic form of its injection being available in lower-income countries beginning in 2026. The drugmaker's HIV treatment division, ViiV Healthcare, said in a statement on Wednesday it had issued voluntary licenses - waiving intellectual property rights - to Aurobindo, Cipla and Viatris, which will manufacture the generic versions of injectable cabotegravir.

Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, fired back at Moderna on Monday in a patent lawsuit over their rival Covid-19 vaccines, seeking dismissal of the lawsuit in Boston federal court and an order that Moderna's patents are invalid and not infringed. Moderna first sued Pfizer in August, accusing the company of violating its rights in three patents related to innovations that Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Moderna said it pioneered before the Covid-19 pandemic. Moderna has also filed a related lawsuit against Pfizer and BioNTech in Germany. All three companies are also embroiled in US patent disputes with other companies over the vaccines. A Pfizer spokesperson said the company and BioNTech are confident in their intellectual property and will "vigorously defend" against Moderna's claims. Moderna did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Monday filing.