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Covid-19, trust, and Wellcome: how charity’s pharma investments overlap with its research efforts

BMJ 2021; 372 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n556 (Published 03 March 2021) Cite this as: BMJ 2021;372:n556

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Re: Covid-19, trust, and Wellcome: how charity’s pharma investments overlap with its research efforts

Dear Editor

Wellcome was originally a pharmaceutical company left as the sole benefactor to a research foundation by Sir Henry Wellcome. Indeed I still have an old diary around with their slogan “Research is our only shareholder”. Eventually mindful of the way certain similar foundations had had their finances depleted (particularly I was told the Nuffield Foundation), the Foundation sold the Wellcome Company and spread their investments around a wider field. It is therefore unsurprising that they have continued to invest in pharmaceutical companies some of which no doubt at this present time are working on Covid while some are working on other conditions.

Thus as it appears to me Wellcome are continuing to do what they have always done from the founder’s death - make money from pharmaceutical products and invest the profits in further beneficial research. The only difference now is that the research is no longer in house. I cannot see any conflict of interest in this model.

Competing interests: No competing interests

05 March 2021
Evan A Bayton
Retired A&E Consultant
None
Warrington