Cover: What are patent waivers in the case of COVID vaccines? | Coronavirus pandemic News

Since the United States last month supported the temporary suspension of intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines, the movement to boost supply and production of firearms has gained momentum.

The United Nations warns that the inequality between vaccines has allowed COVID-19 to continue to expand and has increased the chances of emerging variants that could prevent the current vaccine harvest.

World leaders have taken different perspectives on the challenge of vaccinating populations that do not have a vaccine dose.

Last October, India and South Africa presented an initiative to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to temporarily suspend the intellectual property rights rules for COVID-19 vaccines and other coronavirus-related medical equipment, arguing that refusing patents would allow more countries to manufacture them. much-needed doses of COVID-19.

Large pharmaceutical companies and countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada and Germany have opposed the plan, citing potential damage to innovation and viable manufacturing sites needed to boost production.

According to this, more than 3 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered worldwide Our world in data. But most doses have been given in the richest countries. In Africa less than two percent of doses have been given.

“The situation is so chaotic,” said Yuanqiong Hu, legal adviser to the Doctors Without Borders Access Campaign.

“We see a huge difference globally. There is a great deal of concentration on who owns the technology and who produces it, ”he added.

Along with the launch of negotiations on the resumption of the informal meeting of the WTO on Wednesday, we will discuss a more intense discussion about the exceptions.

What are intellectual property rights?

Intellectual Property (IP) rights they vary from country to country. MME defines these as a right given to people for what are called “creations”.

Creators may use IP rights to prevent others from using their creations or to negotiate payment in exchange for permission to use them. Creations can include inventions, artistic expressions, ideas or formulas, among others.

Covered by patents, trademarks, and copyrights, creators are given a brief monopoly over their idea when others are not allowed to copy it. Biotechnology companies argue that they have been motivated to develop and produce these protections COVID vaccinations in record time.

The WTO Agreement on Parties to the Trade in Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is “the most comprehensive multilateral agreement on IP” and has been in force since 1995.

What does IP denial do?

The waiver temporarily “removes” the intellectual protection provided by the WTO.

The Application made by India and South Africa proposes that countries not be allowed to implement patents and other IPs related to health products and technologies, including diagnostics, therapeutics, vaccines, equipment, and other materials or components, as well as “their methods and means to prevent, treat, or contain COVID.” -19 ”.

This could allow countries to increase cooperation in research and development, exempting WTO members from the risk of being sued by others for failing to implement the TRIPS agreement during the pandemic.

It is an opportunity for countries to establish themselves at will. The waiver of the proposal requires it to be in force for at least three years from the time the decision was made.

“IP waiver does not automatically remove all intellectual property rights related to vaccines, EPEs, fans and anyone else,” said Duncan Matthews, director of the Queen Mary Intellectual Property Research Institute in London. “It gives discretion to certain countries to do so.”

“We would not, for example, expect to see IP refuse in Europe, the US or other developed parts of the world. It would create an opportunity for middle- and low-income countries to abandon these rights that they deem necessary to increase supply and increase production, ”he added.

Who is against the initiative and why?

Organizations such as the World Bank and the European Union and countries such as Japan, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Brazil and Australia have opposed the initiative.

Some leaders have argued that it would pose a threat to innovation.

“I don’t think giving up patents is the solution to supplying the vaccine to more people,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters in early May.

“I think we need the creativity and innovation of companies – and for that we need to protect patents,” he added.

Others have argued that countries do not have the facilities, technology and knowledge to produce vaccines. As an alternative, the EU has called on the US and the UK to increase exports of vaccine and component products.

“The European Union is the only continental or democratic region in this world that is exporting on a large scale,” Commission Chair Ursula von der Leyen said in a press conference in May.

“We invite everyone involved in the IP rights waiver to commit to being willing to export a large portion of what is produced in that region,” he added.

Others say that despite the waiver, the ability to produce is removed it would not increase automatically in the short and medium term.

Pharmaceutical companies say they are negotiating a contract licensing offers case by case with the aim of protecting intellectual property and ensuring security.

Would refusal encourage production?

Manufacturers in Bangladesh, Canada, Denmark and India have said they have the capacity to produce vaccines, but they cannot do so because there is no license.

An example is Biolyse in Canada. The company produces anti-cancer drugs and believes COVID-19 is one of the only companies in the country with the capacity to produce vaccines. but patent restrictions have prevented it from moving forward.

Activists call on EU to end opposition to removing COVID-19 WTO barriers to intellectual property to create more vaccines [File: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters]

However, in addition to the so-called “recipe” for vaccines, potential manufacturers would also need to obtain the trade secrets or knowledge and technology needed to produce vaccines.

Professor Matthews said that this kind of knowledge is “often something that is literally in people’s minds. It is the ability to start the manufacturing process in the factory and know what to do if something goes wrong.”

“So how do you get this confidential information? The typical way to do that is to send an expert to train local people, so one of the things that is being discussed now is that having a country do it on its own would be more effective in having regional manufacturing centers,” he added. du.

The WTO does not have the power to force companies like Pfizer and Moderna, which use new RNA messenger (mRNA) technology through vaccines, to force them to share this knowledge with other companies.

If South Africa has it he said recently they will host the continent’s first COVID-19 mRNA vaccine technology transfer center, with WHO support. It is the goal to scale COVID vaccine production and access.

What’s next?

On June 30, the WTO’s TRIPS Council will hold its first of a series of meetings scheduled for next month to discuss the scope and coverage of the TRIPS waiver. The group has not yet begun text-based negotiations, which is a critical step for any agreement on the waivers.

“They will propose a text that addresses some of the concerns and move the agenda forward, the initial meeting will be what products should be covered,” said Brook Baker, a professor at Northeastern University Law School.

“They have tried to determine that COVID-19, medical technologies and products, vaccines, medicines, diagnostic tests, PPE are already drugs that prevent, treat or control. So my question would be which of these products does Germany want to include?

“Which ones didn’t they use? All that South Africa and India demand are the same products that are available in rich countries, ”he added.

They are negotiations is expected to continue, with a possible agreement on the timing of the next WTO Council of Ministers meeting from 30 November to 3 December.

“This process, despite its fastest pace, although everything went well, will not be achieved until the beginning of December,” Matthews said.

Baker said they are concerned that the long negotiations will make the proposal less practical and that calling on pharmaceutical companies to speed things up could speed things up.

“The mere threat of resignation should be enough to bring the big pharmacy to the table in another way,” Baker explained.

“Wealthy countries could basically tell drug companies that we need to increase capacity … we can do it in a tough way, which will take a long time, we will refuse … Or why don’t you come to the table now, we will compensate, but transfer your technology you need more production, lower prices and a fair distribution all over the world, ”he said.