The four major manufacturers of covid vaccines reached a compromise on the repeal of intellectual property rights, celebrated on Wednesday the head of the World Trade Organization (WTO), who called for a consensus on the issue of all member countries.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala highlighted in a statement the “decisive progress achieved” by the European Union (EU), the United States, India and South Africa “on a derogation from the agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights for the production of vaccines against covid-19.”
“This is a big step forward,” said the WTO director, noting that all the details of the compromise have not yet been finalized.
A few hours earlier, Adam Hodge, spokesman for the US trade representative, had announced “a compromise that paves the way (...) to a concrete and meaningful outcome”, while clarifying that consultations on the text are still ongoing.
In the United States, the Chamber of Commerce has already expressed its rejection of an abrogation of intellectual property rights.
This technical agreement must now be confirmed at the political level, according to the environment of the French Minister for Foreign Trade, Franck Riester.
According to the same source, the commitment that is on the table would only apply to developing countries, and to those that account for less than 10% of annual global exports of covid vaccines, excluding de facto China.
The commitment does not seek to dismantle the current intellectual property system, but to facilitate the granting of “compulsory licenses” in the face of the covid-19 pandemic but also for future health crises.
Under the WTO agreements, there is a compulsory license that allows governments to use a patent without the authorization of its holder and indemnifies the group that originated it.
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Okonjo-Iweala supports the process, stating that the negotiated compromise between the EU, the United States, India and South Africa constituted “an essential element for any final agreement”.
The director of the WTO called for negotiations on the text to be extended to all member countries of the organization.
“At the WTO we decided by consensus, and we still have a way to achieve it,” he said.
However, Switzerland, which houses large pharmaceutical laboratories, has on several occasions expressed its reluctance to the principle of a derogation from intellectual property rights.
Several developing countries, supported by NGOs and some international organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), consider that a lifting of intellectual property rights is essential to facilitate greater knowledge sharing and rapid multiplication of vaccine production sites.
The International Federation of the Pharmaceutical Industry (IFPMA) opposes any project to abolish intellectual property rights and believes that there are enough vaccines produced in the world (currently 12 billion doses per year) and that vaccination must first and foremost be accelerated.
Discussions at the WTO on intellectual property and access to vaccines in poor countries were launched by India and South Africa in 2020, the first year of the covid-19 pandemic.
As there was no progress, these two countries, joined by the US and the EU, launched a restricted group in December to negotiate a compromise.
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