In March 2020, even after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic, Labrador Diagnostics attempted through “the most tone-deaf IP suit in history”1 to block testing for coronavirus that used its patents. In June 2020, Gilead Sciences shocked the international community by pricing its patented medicine remdesivir at $3,120 per course of treatment for COVID-19 patients with private insurance in the United States. Thereafter, the company was vehemently accused of overcharging in “an offensive display of hubris and disregard for the public,”2 which also led to serious concerns that global efforts to contain the pandemic were effectively at the mercy of medical patent owners.3 Since December 2020 when the first COVID-19 vaccine was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, vaccine inequity has ravaged the globe. As of September 2021, a mere 3 percent of people in low-income countries had been vaccinated with at least one dose, in stark contrast to high-income countries’ 60 percent.