Waiver from certain provisions of the TRIPS agreement for the prevention, containment and treatment of Covid-19: A compilation of resources

‘On 2nd October India and South Africa made a joint submission (IP/C/W/669) to the World Trade Organization seeking a waiver from certain provisions of the TRIPS Agreement (patents, trade secrets, copyright and industrial designs) in relation to the containment, prevention and treatment of COVID-19. This proposal is now co-sponsored by 57 developing countries including the Africa Group and the Least Developed Country Group and has received global support from most of the other developing countries and the international community. Technical Briefing by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) as well as this video provides information on the importance of the waiver from TRIPS obligations.

‘Below is a list of interventions by the co-sponsors, statements and op-eds supporting the waiver proposal and news reports about the proposal...‘

Read here (Third World Network, ongoing work)

Strong support for TRIPS waiver amidst opposition by Big Pharma

‘More than 100 countries have upped the stakes for text-based negotiations on the TRIPS waiver proposal that seeks to temporarily suspend certain provisions of the WTO’s TRIPS Agreement in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, amidst attempts by Big Pharma to kill the waiver proposal, said people familiar with the development.

‘Ahead of the WTO’s TRIPS Council meeting on 10 March, the representatives of Big Pharma wrote to President Joseph Biden that the “US government has stood alongside other governments, including the European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Switzerland, Brazil, and Norway to oppose this waiver.”

“We urge your administration to maintain this longstanding support for innovation and American jobs by continuing to oppose the TRIPS waiver,” said the CEOs of Pfizer, AstraZeneca, PhRMA (Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America), Eli Lilly, Bristol Myers Squibb, Gilead Sciences, Merck, Sanofi, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Novartis, Abbvie, Bayer AG, Amgen Inc, and Biogen among others.

‘The CEOs of these companies, who constitute the powerful Big Pharma, decried the waiver proposal, saying that “in requesting the waiver, India and South Africa argued without evidence that the intellectual property is hindering the global response to the pandemic and that the waiver would help scale up research, development, manufacturing and supply of needed products.”

Read here (Third World Network, Mar 12, 2021)

WTO DG meets Big Pharma and opts for voluntary licenses

‘The World Trade Organization Director-General Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said on 9 March that she fully supports the TRIPS waiver, insisting that she has conveyed to Big Pharma that they need to understand the “practicalities and sentiments” behind the demand for the waiver, said people familiar with the development.

‘Yet, she maintained that the TRIPS waiver may not be able to address the issue of ramping up production of vaccines to combat COVID-19 due to difficult manufacturing conditions that need to be complied with for producing vaccines, said people familiar with her remarks.

‘Her continued ambivalent positions seem to have undermined the move towards text-based negotiations on the TRIPS waiver, said people familiar with the development.’

Read here (Third World Network, Mar 10, 2021)

WHO suffers setback on its plan for global vaccine access facility

‘The World Health Organization appears to have suffered a setback in its major global initiative for a Covid-19 vaccine procurement facility, as the United States and other major industrialized nations remain reluctant to sign up to the scheme in combating the worsening pandemic which has so far claimed more than 842,000 lives.

‘Despite repeated warnings in August by the WHO director-general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, that “no one is safe until everyone is safe; no one country has access to research and development, manufacturing and all the supply chain for essential medicines and materials,” the major pharmaceutical producing countries are increasingly pursuing “nationalist” initiatives instead of multilateral schemes, according to media reports.’

Read here (Third World Network, Sept 3, 2020)

South voices concerns over “vaccine nationalism” amid COVID-19

‘Several developing countries have expressed serious concerns at the World Trade Organization about rising “vaccine nationalism” and attempts to restrict affordable access to vaccines and therapeutics for combating the Covid-19 pandemic, as the worsening health crisis has continued to ravage countries by claiming nearly 700,000 lives around the world.

‘At the WTO’s TRIPS Council meeting that ended on 3 August, members elected South Africa’s trade envoy Ambassador Xolelwa Mlumbi-Peter as the new chair of the TRIPS Council.

‘The meeting witnessed sharp discussions on “IP measures in the context of the Covid-19,” “intellectual property and the 1998 e-commerce work program,” and “intellectual property and public interest: beyond access to medicines and medical technologies towards a more holistic approach to TRIPS flexibilities”, among others, said a participant, who asked not to be quoted.’

Read here (Third World Network, August 7, 2020)

Covid-19: Are we being misled again by Big Pharma?

This Third World Network article examines the parallels between the production, marketing and distribution strategies of (1) antiviral medicine oseltamivir (Tamiflu) by Roche for H1N1 in the years 2005 and 2009 and (2) remdesivir by Gilead Sciences for Covid-19 during this pandemic.

Read here (Third World Network, July 10, 2020)

Covid-19 vaccines: EU prioritises preferential access, paying lip-service to global solidarity

‘The European Commission has released an “EU Strategy for COVID-19 vaccines” that is premised on sealing advance purchase agreements with vaccine producers to secure production of vaccines in the European Union and sufficient supplies for its Member States. Launched on 17th June 2020, the EU Strategy marks a major shift from earlier calls for global collaboration and solidarity in ensuring affordable equitable access to vaccines globally.’

Read here (Third World Network, June 26, 2020)