With growing momentum behind the global campaign for a temporary, emergency waiver of some of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) intellectual property (IP) to boost production of COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and tests, the pharmaceutical industry is arguing the initiative is not necessary or helpful. These claims, while not original, are still worth debunking, given they distract from the mission at hand: removing legal and political obstacles to scale up manufacturing of the critical goods we need to combat a raging pandemic.
There are several accounts that thoroughly explain why waiving certain provisions of the WTO’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is critical and how it could contribute, along with other efforts, to ramping up production of vaccines, treatments, diagnostic tests and equipment so that we can end the pandemic as quickly as possible. (You can see our contribution here.)
The IP-maximalists — the usual Pharma CEOs and various associations and spokespeople — started from the old hymnal: (i) IP is not really an obstacle, (ii)
— source citizen.typepad.com | Daniel Rangel | Mar 16, 2021