Events
& Issues
New
Delhi, 27 May 2021
Vaccine IPRWaiver
A GLOBAL NECESSITY
By DrS.Saraswathi
(Former Director,
ICSSR, New Delhi)
It is reported that the chief of World Trade Organisation
(WTO) is persuading member-nations to
reach an agreement on waiver of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) for Covid-19
vaccines as the pandemic is developing second and third waves and showing no
indication of leaving even after that. The WTO Director-Generalemphasisedthe
urgency for arriving at an international
trade agreement to relax IPR for Covid-related products so as to allow
more manufacturers to enter this field to meet growing worldwide demands and
save human lives. Next meetingof the WTO to discuss IPR is scheduled to take
place in June.
The proposal for a 3-year patent waiver for
Covid-19 related health products and technologies including drugs and
vaccines,along with their “material or components and their methods and means to manufacture” originated from India
and South Africa in October 2020as necessary to fight fast spreading Coronavirus.Their
latest submission, a few days back,specifies inclusion in the waiver list besides
vaccines and medicines, diagnostics, therapeutics, medical devices, and
personal protective equipment to cover “prevention, treatment, or containment
of Covid-19”. Somereportsmentionthat about 120 member countries, including
China are in support of the proposal.
USA, Britain, EU, and Switzerland were
initially notinfavour of the proposition,but US is changing its position.
American President Joe Biden promised waiver of IPR for Covidvaccine during his election campaigns in the late
2020s and there are hopes of getting the support of EU, Japan, Switzerland, and
Brazil also.The EU is batting forrevisingits stand.
An Open Covid Coalition is promoting the Open
Covid Pledge, which calls on organisations
around the world to make their patents and copyrights fully available in
the fight against Covid-19 pandemic. Germany, the home of BioNTech, the firm
that produced an effective vaccine for Covid-19 was not in favour of IP waiver.
It believesthat the protection of IP is a “source of innovation and must remain
so”.Ascommercialimpact of IP waiver will be enormous, India may have to overcome many practical hurdles
in establishing and running its own plant.
SouthAfricamooted the idea of IP waiver two
decades agowith regard to AIDS drugs. India managed to build support for it that led to insertion of compulsory licensing
provisions for all countries under TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual Property
Rights).
WTO
Agreement allows waiving obligations in “exceptional circumstances”. But, existence
of such circumstancesis not enough to obtain waiver. Political will
andconcurrence of concerned commercial interests are needed. Many countries
arenow busy negotiating forloosening IPR to enable countries that possess the
requisite capacities to produce Covid-19 vaccines. Countries like India
willbeable to produce forself-use and alsoto meet the demands of other
developing countries at a price they can afford.
It's in the interest of the entire world to
make this possible by removing restrictions. Commercialinterests arenot bigger
than the survival of humans. Apandemiclike Covid-19cannot be fought
successfully without pooling global resources – human and material.
Licensing is midway between IPR regime and
totalIP waiver. Normally, in case of IPR,licence is given only with the consent
of holders of the right.Under Indian Patent Act,government may resolve to
license the innovation to anyone three years after the grant of the patent without
the consent of the owner of the patentunder three conditions – if reasonable
requirementof the public is not fulfilled; if the product is not available at
affordable prices to the public; andif the
patented invention is not used in India. Compulsory licensing was notgranted
for manufacture for purposes of exports.
This condition was removed in 2003 to enable export of AIDS medicine to
countries that were not in a position to manufacture them. Rules restrict
manufacture of more than the required quantity of the medicine for use and
export.
As demand for drugs, vaccine, and other
equipment used for diagnosis, treatment, and
prevention of Covid-19 and related diseases isincreasing enormously and
has tobe met immediately in many countries, there is an urgent need for
removing obstructions in the way of production, transportation, and
distribution of the goods in utmost speed. Shortageof or delay in the supplyof
required goods can be removed byadministrative corrections and promoting
cooperation and coordination between concerned agencies unlike lack of required
medicalgoods which in addition need intellectual resources which are not
available everywhere.
Flexibility in patents for vaccines and free movement of
medical material between nations are sine qua non at the present juncture to fight
Covid-19. The proposal sponsored by India and South Africa is exactly meant for
that freedom presently restricted by production and trade rules betweennations.
WTO’s decisions are taken by consensus.
Hence, the waiver will take time to be formulated andapproved. The speed of the pandemic will
not allow slow progress of talks for agreement.
India and South Africa want the
waiver not only to Covid-19 vaccine, but to related medicines, other
therapeutics and technologies, whereas the US wants to restrict
it to vaccine.
IP waiver is only part of the project of
vaccine manufacture. India has also to acquire technical knowledge, raw
materials, supply chains, necessary infrastructureand so on, which are not
protected by patent laws, but must be in
place tomakeuse ofIPwaiver. Therefore, our struggle will not end with crossing
the IPR hurdle at the WTO.The nation must understand the situation.
IPRis,no doubt, avaluable reward that
encourages invention of cures and medicines by granting exclusive rights over
the products to their creators. Such aresource should not become an impediment
in reaching medicines and medical equipment to patients on time and in
sufficient quantity. Public health is a humanright where research and
innovations should benefit the public
and commercial gains should be secondary.
IPR itself is a questionable right especially
in the case oflife-saving vaccines, medicine, and medical and other equipment
needed during epidemics, war, and natural
calamities. Can there be any
intellectual resourcethat can be claimed as the creation exclusively from one identifiable source? It is doubtful. Knowledgeisbuilt and
does not appear suddenly.The conflict is between individual right and mass
survival.
However, in matters like medicine, we have to
guard against spurious drugs and duplicates resembling he originals but lacking its properties.
IPR waiver for Covid-19 medicines will be
needed until the majority of world population develop immunity and until enough
vaccine and drugs become available throughout the world. No
country, including those that have won the battle against Corona and also
having required products far in excess
of local demand can remain in peace if the
virus is active in another part of the
world. Immunity has to come to the whole world in cases of pandemic. IPR
waiver is as much in the interest of countries that seem to be winning the
Covid-19 battle as in the interest of
those living under fear of the invisible enemy. ---INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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