In the early 20th century, four Canadian researchers discovered insulin to treat diabetes. They sold a patent for a symbolic $1 to the University of Toronto. A few decades later, Dr. Jonas Salk developed a polio vaccine. He did not patent this vaccine because he believed it belonged to the people. So why then do COVID-19 vaccines belong to private pharmaceutical companies and not to the people? Today we are leaving the production of medicines and vaccines largely to the private sector, despite massive public investments and participation in the underlying research. And policy has encouraged universities to patent their publicly funded medical research and transfer that knowledge to pharmaceutical companies for product development, with no strengths attached. After companies do the clinical trials to show the medicine or vaccine safety and efficacy, often with further public research support, they become the sole owners of the product and the data. And because companies compete for market share, they keep their methods and results secret so that others cannot copy or build upon it. As pharmaceutical companies are accountable to shareholders and financial markets, they will maximize profit by charging high prices for medicines and vaccines, especially in wealthy countries, instead of producing and pricing them to be available to everybody. Despite many public investments in research and development, taxpayers will again have to pay for access. For people in countries that cannot afford high prices, access remains elusive. The World Health Organization estimates that 2 billion people lack access to essential medicines, shutting them off from the benefits of advances in modern science. It doesn't have to be that way. When knowledge is freely shared, we can build upon each other's insights and creativity, and we can work together to make the best possible treatments to improve the lives of people everywhere. Without patents and other monopolies, knowledge and technologies can be shared openly, allowing companies and countries everywhere to produce life-saving treatments. And instead of selling medicines as ordinary commodities for profit, medicines should be public goods or global health comments available and affordable for everyone. Given all the public investments, garments must stop handing all property rights to private companies. They should rather promote a culture of sharing in collaboration. A globally shared knowledge comments should be created that everyone can tap into and build upon to produce the life-saving pharmaceuticals we need.