Posts Tagged: "TRIPS"

C4IP and IP Celebrities Tell Biden to Pass on Extension of TRIPS Waiver

Nearly 50 former government officials and other well-known figures in the IP space signed onto a letter today penned by the Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP) urging President Biden to oppose the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) proposed extension of the COVID-19 IP waiver to therapeutics and diagnostics. The WTO announced a deal on waiver of IP rights for COVID-19 vaccine technologies under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in June 2022. The final text made almost no one happy and was much narrower than the original proposal by South Africa and India. The waiver is limited to “patented subject matter required for the production and supply of COVID-19 vaccines” only.

Witnesses and House IP Subcommittee Members Skeptical About Extending TRIPS IP Waiver

The House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet today held a hearing titled “IP and Strategic Competition with China: Part II – Prioritizing U.S. Innovation Over Assisting Foreign Adversaries,” which focused on the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) agreement on a waiver of IP rights for COVID-19 vaccine technologies under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) last June. All of the panelists agreed that COVID-19 is no longer a public health emergency and that an extension of the waiver to diagnostics and therapeutics is likely unnecessary.

Get Your Comments In: Tell the ITC the U.S. Should Not Give Away Key Technologies Once Again

With the planet now awash in unused vaccines, efforts are underway to extend the TRIPS waiver to our COVID diagnostics and therapeutics (terms that are poorly defined). By the way, China is considered a “developing country” that could use the waiver. The U.S. Trade Representative asked the U.S. International Trade Commission to investigate whether or not such an extension is justified. That effort includes seeking public comments, which are due by Friday, May 5, 2023. The Bayh-Dole Coalition, which I lead, just submitted to following letter to US ITC Secretary, Lisa Barton, laying out some of the many reasons why the extension would be a colossal blunder.

People’s Vaccine Alliance: WHO Must Ensure Members Commit to Waive IP Rights in Pandemic Accord

The People’s Vaccine Alliance released comments this week on a draft of a pandemic accord currently being considered during the fourth meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) at the World Health Organization (WHO). The organization criticized the draft for lacking strong language that would obligate WHO member parties to share knowledge and intellectual property during a pandemic. The Zero Draft is being discussed at the INB meeting from February 27-March 3, and the organization will later decide if it will be the basis of negotiation for the pandemic prevention accord. After the fourth meeting, the INB will hold another meeting from April 3-6, and it will report on developments around the accord in May, at the 76th World Health Assembly. The People’s Vaccine Alliance saw some positives in the Zero Draft; however, the group asked for more concrete language on the issue of intellectual property rights, among other topics.

Why Voluntary Licensing is Best for Increasing Access to Medicines

When it comes to how to best increase access to medicines in l0w and middle-income countries (LMICs), compulsory licensing gets most of the attention. Academic articles, non-governmental organization (NGO) campaigns, conferences and United Nations (UN)-endorsed technical symposia assert it is the best approach. Certain World Trade Organization (WTO) members are pushing for COVID-19 treatments and diagnostics to be included in the waiver of intellectual property rights under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of IP Rights (TRIPs waiver), which revolves around compulsory licensing. Brazil has recently amended its IP laws to make compulsory licensing easier. Despite its high political profile, compulsory licensing has rarely been used (mainly by a handful African countries in the mid 2000s to address the HIV pandemic). Even then, IP-respecting treatments available from global procurement bodies have proven cheaper. No country has yet seen the need for a compulsory license for a COVID vaccine.