Sir, – Hugh O'Connor (Letters, May 26th) suggests that there is no alternative to a 20-year market monopoly as an incentive for innovation of medicines. He overlooks the fact that the success of the Covid vaccine development programme has largely been due to public funding of over $110 billion (€90 billion). It is such public funding which could incentivise innovation in the future and enable governments to become the master rather than the servant of the pharmaceutical industry. – Yours, etc,
Dr KIERAN HARKIN,
Access to Medicines Ireland,
Comhlámh, Dublin 2.