Big Pharma slammed for executive payouts that nearly match R&D budget

Twenty of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies made payouts to their executives and shareholders that almost equaled the money they spent on research and development between 2020 and 2022, according to a new analysis that the People’s Vaccine Alliance released ahead of this week’s World Health Summit in Berlin.

Using data from SOMO, a Dutch research agency, the alliance calculated that the 20 companies spent $377.5 billion on payouts in the form of executive compensation, distributing dividends, and buying back shares over the three years, compared to $414.6 billion spent on research and development during the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the same time, pharmaceutical companies and allied governments maintain that they cannot allow for waivers on the intellectual property and trade secrets for new vaccines and therapeutics during future pandemics because it will discourage innovation.