US support for vaccine waiver welcome, but more needed

‘Thanks to President Biden, the US now supports a suspension of intellectual property (IP) rights to increase vaccine supplies. However, without vaccine developers sharing tacit technical knowledge for safe vaccine mass production, it will be difficult to rapidly scale up vaccine output.’

This story is well argued and contains several relevant and informative links under the following subheadings:

• Waiver delayed is waiver denied
• Foot dragging for profit
• Vaccine monopolies not yet IP dependent
• Vaccine profits kill
• TRIPS discourages knowledge sharing
• Accelerate vaccinations for all

Read here (IPS News, May 11, 2021)

Next steps for a people’s vaccine

‘The Biden administration’s decision to stop opposing a proposed COVID-19 waiver of certain intellectual-property rights under World Trade Organization rules is a welcome move. But ending the pandemic also requires scaling up knowledge and technology transfer, as well as public production of vaccine supplies.’

Read here (Project Syndicate, May 7, 2021)

Share the intellectual property on Covid-19: Jeffrey Sachs

‘The pharmaceutical industry and the governments of several vaccine-producing countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as the European Commission, have been resisting the IP waiver, while 150 public leaders and experts have sent an open letter to US President Joe Biden in support of it. There is no longer any question about who is right. Given the surge of COVID-19 in several regions, most recently in India, the continuing emergence of new and deadly variants of the virus, and the inability of the current vaccine producers to keep pace with global needs, an IP waiver or its equivalent has become a practical urgent need as well as a moral imperative.’

Read here (Project Syndicate, Apr 29, 2021)

The Bill Gates factor

‘Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has a key role in shaping the global response to the pandemic. And it’s not good news for health equality... 

‘A charitable take is that Gavi’s work, including Covax, bridges a gap – enabling the pharmaceuticals market to serve the needs of the poorest. But its model also props up that market, simultaneously bolstering an ideology of protection for intellectual property that socializes research and development risks but privatizes profits and control.

‘Intellectual property restrictions have created monopolies in both pharmaceuticals and software, crucial for the massive profits of Microsoft, where Gates made his billions. Meanwhile the Gates Foundation also has its own investments in Big Pharma, including Pfizer, and has funded organizations lobbying for industry-friendly regulations, such as the Drug Information Association and American Legislative Exchange Council.’

Read here (New Internationalist, April 26, 2021)

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)

Canadian-pharma solution to aid worldwide Covid vaccine access

‘Despite the optimism [over vaccines], there remains a missing space for people in low-income nations who desperately need these vaccines and who may wait too long. As the World Health Organization (WHO) noted in a recent media conference, the global vaccine stocks remain critically short of supply at this time.

‘Biolyse Pharma an Ontario based manufacturer of sterile injectable medicine hopes to be part of a solution. Biolyse has the potential of producing up to twenty million doses per year. In order to do so, the company will need access to the drug master file of an already approved vaccine which is generally patent protected. The Canadian Access to Medicines Regime (CAMR) relating to emergency-patent transfer may permit the company to achieve its objective.  

‘CAMR is the Canadian enabling legislation that reflects the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), a protocol between all the member nations of the World Trade Organisation. Under CAMR, there is an emergency provision for the federal government to waive patent rights, allowing other generic-producing companies to start expedited production of critical preventative or curative drugs. Canada therefore has a mechanism in place to allow drug companies to a compulsory license from a patent holder.’

Read here (Newswire, Mar 11, 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)

The political economy of Covid-19 vaccines

‘Vaccine grabs, the refusal to relax patents to enable mass production, and the use of vaccines for diplomacy run the risk that poorer nations may not be protected against Covid-19 quickly enough. This will prolong the pandemic, even for the richer nations.’

Read here (The India Forum, Mar 5, 2021)

Countries urge drug companies to share vaccine know-how

‘Across Africa and Southeast Asia, governments and aid groups, as well as the World Health Organization, are calling on pharmaceutical companies to share their patent information more broadly to meet a yawning global shortfall in a pandemic that already has claimed over 2.5 million lives. Pharmaceutical companies that took taxpayer money from the U.S. or Europe to develop inoculations at unprecedented speed say they are negotiating contracts and exclusive licensing deals with producers on a case-by-case basis because they need to protect their intellectual property and ensure safety.’

Read here (AP, Mar 2, 2021)

Patently unfair: Can waivers help solve Covid vaccine inequality?

‘The World Trade Organization (WTO) General Council gathered virtually on Monday for the first of two days of talks amid increasing calls from civil society, states and nongovernmental actors to temporarily waive patents for COVID-19 vaccines and other coronavirus-related medical products. Endorsing a waiver on Friday, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “If not now, when?”

‘At the core of the discussion stands a proposal submitted in October by South Africa and India to suspend the WTO’s agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic. The goal is to facilitate the transfer of technology and scientific knowledge to developing countries to ramp up the global production of vaccines and other necessary equipment.’

Read here (Aljazeera, Mar 1, 2021)

IP, vaccine imperialism cause death and suffering, delay recovery

‘Vaccine developers’ refusal to share publicly funded vaccine research findings is stalling broader, affordable vaccinations which would more rapidly contain COVID-19 contagion. The pandemic had infected at least 109 million people worldwide, causing over 2.4 million deaths as of mid-February.

‘Avoidable delays in preventive vaccination are imposing terrible burdens on the world economy and human welfare, with economic disruption demanding more relief and recovery measures. They have cost US$28 trillion in lost output globally, with developed countries contracting by 7% in 2020.’

Read here (IPS News, Feb 16, 2021)

Intellectual property cause of death, genocide

‘Refusal to temporarily suspend several World Trade Organization (WTO) intellectual property (IP) provisions to enable much faster and broader progress in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic should be grounds for International Criminal Court prosecution for genocide. 

‘Making life-saving vaccines, medicines and equipment available, freely or affordably, has been crucial for containing the spread of many infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV-AIDS, polio and smallpox. 

‘Jonas Salk, who developed the polio vaccine, insisted that it remain patent free. Asked who owned the patent 65 years ago, he replied, “The people I would say. There is no patent. You might as well ask, could you patent the sun?”

Read here (ksjomo.org, Feb 8, 2020)

Bill Gates, Big Pharma and entrenching the vaccine apartheid

‘It appears that South Africa and India were right. Under the current rules, the vaccine cannot be made quickly or cheaply enough to meet global demand, which vaccines are only going to those countries that can afford it. This is a “catastrophic moral failure”, said the head of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Some activists have described the situation as a “vaccine apartheid”...

‘Nonetheless, the proposal for a patent waiver has been repeatedly rejected at the WTO by wealthier countries including the European Union, the United Kingdom, US and Switzerland; countries which, as Reuters wryly noted, are “all home to major pharmaceutical companies”. They also all enjoy early access to the vaccine.

‘Nor has South Africa and India’s proposal received support from the most influential non-state actor in global public health: Bill Gates...

‘But despite Gates’ stated commitment to an equitable distribution of the Covid vaccine, he is refusing to back South Africa and India’s calls for a waiver on patents... 

‘This should not come as a surprise: the Gates Foundation has historically been opposed to efforts to reform intellectual property protections for pharmaceutical companies — putting it at odds with other public health NGOs such as Doctors Without Borders (MSF) — and has in fact lobbied for developing countries to impose even stronger protections for drug companies’ patents. This is perhaps because Gates’ own fortune is built on intellectual property, specifically the copy­rights and patents associated with Windows and Microsoft.’

Read here (Mail&Guardian of South Africa, Jan 30, 2021)

Intellectual property monopolies block vaccine access

‘The authors of “Want Vaccines Fast? Suspend Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)" argue that IPR are the main stumbling block. Meanwhile, South Africa and India have proposed that the World Trade Organization (WTO) temporarily waive its Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) rules limiting access to COVID-19 medicines, tools, equipment and vaccines.

 ‘The proposal – welcomed by the WHO Director-General and supported by nearly 100 governments and many civil society organisations around the world – goes beyond the Doha Declaration’s limited flexibilities for national emergencies and circumstances of extreme urgency. But Brazil, one of the worst hit countries, opposes the proposal, together with the US, the EU, the UK, Switzerland, Norway, Canada, Australia and Japan, insisting the Doha Declaration is sufficient.’

Read here (ksjomo.org, Dec 14, 2020)

Breaking down Moderna’s Covid-19 patent pledge: Why did they do it?

‘Last month, Moderna Therapeutics, one of the global leaders in the race to produce a COVID-19 vaccine using mRNA, made the following statement regarding enforcement of its patents: “We feel a special obligation under the current circumstances to use our resources to bring this pandemic to an end as quickly as possible. Accordingly, while the pandemic continues, Moderna will not enforce our COVID-19 related patents against those making vaccines intended to combat the pandemic. Further, to eliminate any perceived IP barriers to vaccine development during the pandemic period, upon request we are also willing to license our intellectual property for COVID-19 vaccines to others for the post pandemic period.”

‘This post examines why Moderna made this patent pledge by examining its mRNA technology, go-to-market status, patent landscape, and market position.’

Read here (IP Watchdog, Nov 11, 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)

Politics, profits undermine public interest in Covid-19 vaccine race

‘Some pharmaceutical giants, e.g., Glaxo-Smith-Kline and Sanofi, claim they do not expect to profit from the Covid-19 vaccine. But such recent industry promises not to profiteer from making the vaccine globally available are hard to reconcile with the record that drug research and development has long been driven by the prospect of massive profits.

‘Such firms have been urged to make the Open Covid pledge to voluntarily relinquish their IP rights (IPRs), at least until the Covid-19 pandemic is over... Governments can also use ‘compulsory licencing’, permitted by World Trade Organization rules, to enable companies that do not have the IPRs, to make, manufacture and sell generic versions of patented medicines...’

Read here (IPS News, May 26, 2020)

Coronavirus vaccine: Where profit and public health collide

‘When it comes to developing medicines available for all populations in the world, the image of Big Pharma has long been tarnished. Supply bottlenecks for some specific drugs are often the result of the pricing policies pursued by major drugmakers, says Wasem [Jürgen Wasem, a professor for healthcare management at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany] — a claim, which is nonetheless "difficult to prove in most cases," he says. Sometimes, companies strive to keep supply artificially low, he says, to achieve higher market prices. Moreover, certain treatments are often never developed because there isn't a "commercial incentive" to undertake the effort, he adds.’

Read here (DW, May 1, 2020)

392 NGOs call on WHO to operationalise fair and equitable benefit sharing of Covid-19 medical products

The NGOs are referring to the benefits arising from the sharing of SARS-CoV-2 digital sequence information and samples as recognised by the Convention on Biological Diversity (which has 196 Parties) and its Nagoya Protocol (which has 123 Parties).

Specifically, they have asked WHO to urgently:

1. Secure binding commitments from biopharmaceutical companies and other manufacturers for the rapid supply of existing and future medical products, especially diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines to developing and least developed countries at an affordable price.
2. Organise open platforms for the widespread and unconditional sharing of technology and knowledge including technical specifications, designs, blueprints and any other know-how to scale-up local/regional manufacturing of medical products required for COVID-19 response including diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines; and towards that end to secure binding commitments from biopharmaceutical companies and other medical product manufacturers.
3. Proactively coordinate and direct COVID-19 R&D by setting up an open innovation platform for the rapid public sharing of all research outcomes, knowledge gaps and problem solving, and towards that end secure binding commitments from entities and individuals engaged in the R&D.
4. Ensure that intellectual property rights do not affect or hinder efforts to curb the Covid outbreak.

Download here (Third World Network, letter dated April 24, 2020)