Pharma industry waiting with bated breath for outcome of WTO talks

The final agreed TRIPS waiver must cover not only vaccines, but all essential medical technologies, including treatments and tests, that all countries should be covered, and that the duration of the waiver should be at least five years, in order to support the manufacturing and supply of Covid-19 medical tools

Even as the 12th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is going to be held in a few days, there is clamour for the rejection of the landmark intellectual property (IP) Waiver proposal for Covid-19 medical tools which has officially been tabled at the WTO recently. A large number of NGOs working in the health arena has strongly urged all the WTO member countries to reject the draft text, as it does not provide a meaningful solution to facilitate increasing people's access to needed medical tools during the pandemic that has cost more than six million lives already, and in fact would set a negative precedent for future global health challenges.

The controversial IP waiver proposal for Covid-19 medical tools was tabled at the WTO almost one and a half years since India and South Africa first proposed this landmark IP waiver. Earlier in late 2020, both India and South Africa had knocked at the doors of WTO for waiver of IP rights and patents for Covid-19 medical products. By this IP waiver, under certain provisions of the TRIPS Agreement, both the countries wanted to ensure rapid access to affordable medical products like diagnostic kits, PPEs, ventilators, vaccines and other medicines to prevent, contain and treat Covid-19 disease.

In the joint communication, both the countries wanted the waiver to continue until widespread vaccination is in place globally, and the majority of the world's population has developed immunity. Of course, both the countries' clarion call for the waiver was relevant as the outbreak has led to a swift increase in global demand for these medical products with many countries facing acute shortages. Shortages of these Covid-19 medical products have put the lives of health and other essential workers at risk and led to many avoidable deaths. It is also threatening to prolong the pandemic. The longer the current global crisis persists, the greater will be the socio-economic fallout, making it imperative and urgent to collaborate internationally to rapidly contain the outbreak. There are several reports about IP rights potentially hindering timely provisioning of affordable medical products to the patients.

But unfortunately, the Indian proposal was initially met with staunch opposition from a bloc of developed countries including the US, EU, UK, Switzerland, Norway, Australia, Canada and Japan, and later joined by Brazil. The US reiterated the importance of innovation during the Covid-19 pandemic for safe and affordable medical solutions, without looking into the issues raised by India and South Africa. The EU stated that it doesn't see IP as a barrier. The developed countries stated that suspending key protections of the TRIPS agreement would send the wrong message to industry investors. They are of the view that IP has enabled collaboration between bio-pharmaceutical innovators and governments, universities and other research partners to speed up progress on the most pressing unmet medical needs. But, what these countries had conveniently forgotten is the fact that this pandemic has claimed millions of lives across the world, and is still counting.

But later on May 6 2021, the US President Joe Biden supported India's plea for waiver of IP protections for Covid-19 vaccines as both India and South Africa have consistently been advocating for the IP waiver as one vital tool to address the concerns on availability of Covid-19 vaccines. It is a fact that in our fierce fight against the corona pandemic, there is a growing mismatch between demand and supply of vaccines in the world. And India is no exception. Acute shortage of vaccines has put thousands of lives including the doctors, healthcare workers and other essential workers at serious risk and has further exacerbated the kind of healthcare crisis the modern world has never witnessed before.

In such a background, the Biden-Harris Administration took a bold decision to temporary waiver of IP protections for Covid-19 vaccines which will definitely prove to be the proverbial light at the end of a long dark tunnel for India, and for that matter the entire world. The US government's decision was an important step towards global support for a WTO waiver on IP. This could provide countries with new options to address the limitations of existing WTO rules and remove legal uncertainties and barriers that may impede production and supply of Covid-19 vaccines.

Following the US decision, France and New Zealand have pledged their support to the IP waiver on Covid-19 vaccine. The European Union and several wealthy countries like Switzerland, Netherlands and Spain have said that it would be open to discussions and negotiations at the WTO. Earlier, there was stiff opposition to the Indian proposal for waiver of IP rights and patents for Covid-19 medical products.

But surprisingly, the draft text which has recently been tabled at the WTO is categorically different from the TRIPS Waiver introduced by India and South Africa, which proposes to waive patents and other IP barriers on all Covid-19 medical tools for the duration of the pandemic, and pave the way for any country to increase production and supply of these lifesaving medical tools. While the draft text attempts to address some restrictions on compulsory licensing rules for export, it fails to do so in a meaningful manner. The final agreed TRIPS waiver must cover not only vaccines, but all essential medical technologies, including treatments and tests, that all countries should be covered, and that the duration of the waiver should be at least five years, in order to support the manufacturing and supply of Covid-19 medical tools.

(The author is freelance journalist with varied experience in different fields)