As India is slowly vaccinating its population, the issue of intellectual property waiver for COVID-19 vaccines is the talk of the town.
The IP waiver is expected to open up space for production of COVID vaccines with emergency use authorisations. The vaccines include those developed by Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Novavax, Johnson & Johnson and Bharat Biotech.
Developed countries are leading in COVID-19 vaccination coverage for their populations.
What Is TRIPS?
The US support for an IP waiver is from the proposal by India and South Africa in the WTO last year. At issue is the 1995 WTO agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights, known as TRIPS. This provides enforceable rules for safeguarding trademarks, designs, inventions and other intangible goods in global trade.
Having assured itself of vaccine coverage, the US has now backed the IPR waiver demand raised by India and South Africa.
In a historic move, the US government had announced that it supports waiving patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines. “The extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures,” said US trade representative Katherine Tai in a statement.
The move came on 5 May, the first of a two-day meeting of the general council of the World Trade Organization, based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Who Is Opposing The Waiver?
Pharmaceutical companies are not pro the waiver. In a joint letter to US President Joe Biden in March, pharma companies including Pfizer and AstraZeneca had opposed the proposed waiver.
They say that the IP protections would undermine the global response to the pandemic including the ongoing efforts to tackle new variants.
Until now, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Japan have blocked efforts brought by India and South Africa to make it legal to manufacture generic versions of COVID-19 vaccines.
A Third Way?
A former Nigerian finance minister is offering an alternate approach. Here private companies engage in licensing agreements with nations to share some but not all of the knowledge and designs needed to produce vaccines in the developing world.
The humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières argues that it’s unconscionable for wealthy nations to hoard vaccine know-how and for pharmaceutical companies to prioritize profits over lives in poor nations.
What Are Patents and IP rights?
A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention, which is a product or a process that provides, in general, a new way of doing something, or offers a new technical solution to a problem. To get a patent, technical information about the invention must be disclosed to the public in a patent application.
Patents are territorial rights. In general, the exclusive rights are only applicable in the country or region in which a patent has been filed and granted, in accordance with the law of that country or region.
A product patent ensures that the rights to the final product is protected, and anyone other than the patent holder can be restrained from manufacturing it during a specified period, even if they were to use a different process.
Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce.
IP is protected in law by, for example, patents, copyright and trademarks, which enable people to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create. By striking the right balance between the interests of innovators and the wider public interest, the IP system aims to foster an environment in which creativity and innovation can flourish.
(With Inputs From https://www.wipo.int/)