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Tai and Tedros do not report any relevant financial information. At the time of publication, Healio was unable to confirm any relevant financial information for Borio.
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Biden’s government said it would support efforts to abandon intellectual property protections on COVID-19 vaccines that have been proposed to make the vaccines more available and affordable to developing countries.
In a statement US sales agent Katherine Tai announced government support for the so-called TRIPS waiver – a proposal under discussion by the World Trade Organization Council on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, which calls for the temporary lifting of certain protective measures during the pandemic so that more manufacturers can manufacture the vaccines .
Biden’s government supports efforts to surrender intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines, which proponents say could allow more manufacturers to make the vaccines.
Source: Adobe Stock.
The proposal was drafted by India and South Africa and supported by a number of other countries.
“This is a global health crisis and the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures,” Tai said in a statement. “The government is a firm believer in the protection of intellectual property, but supports the waiver of this protection for COVID-19 vaccines in the service of ending this pandemic.”
Tai said the US would “actively participate in text-based negotiations” but warned that negotiations “will take time”.
“The government’s goal is to provide safe and effective vaccines to as many people as possible as quickly as possible,” said Tai. “With our vaccine supplies to the people of America secure, the government will continue to work with the private sector and all possible partners to expand the manufacture and distribution of vaccines. It will also help increase the raw materials needed to make these vaccines. “
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
The announcement was also supported by the WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, MScwho called it a “monumental moment” in the fight against COVID-19.
“I commend the US for this historic decision for vaccine equity that puts the well-being of all people everywhere at a critical time,” he said in a statement. “Now we’re all moving together quickly and in solidarity, building on the ingenuity and dedication of scientists who have made life-saving COVID-19 vaccines.”
Others criticized the decision, including the former acting chief scientist of the FDA Luciana Borio, MD, who advised the Biden-Harris transition team on COVID-19.
“Unfortunately, this action will not help make more vaccines available to the world. There’s no need to celebrate, ”tweeted Borio, Vice President of Technical Staff at the nonprofit venture capital firm In-Q-Tel. “Without innovative US companies, we would not have our amazing vaccines. These vaccines are difficult to design and manufacture, and our companies do it most efficiently. “
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Amesh A. Adalja, MD
Intellectual property is property, and this unprecedented surrender of patent rights means the expropriation of property from the pharmaceutical companies whose innovation and financial investment made the development of COVID-19 vaccines possible. The rights of innovators must be respected, especially in an emergency. What incentive do these people have to keep innovating when their property rights can be removed with the stroke of a pen? It is also the fact that the potential reward patents allow companies to offset the investment costs and facilitate the long-term planning and research required for vaccines.
The fact that the companies involved received taxpayers’ money for manufacturing, logistics and pre-sale agreements cannot mean that the US government can refuse to secure patent rights and defend the individual rights it was established to defend. Would you have made this agreement if this possibility had been declared by the US government at the beginning of Operation Warp Speed? Why should a company invest time and resources in the future when its product, if successful, can in principle be confiscated with the sanction of its own government?
There is no evidence to suggest that patents are responsible for the world’s vaccination difficulties. Indeed, without patents there would be no vaccines because they act as the vehicles for the innovation that makes such products possible in the first place. What should be seriously discussed is the end of all export restrictions that should never be put into effect and that led to disruptions in the supply chain.
Amesh A. Adalja, MD
Senior Scholar
Johns Hopkins Center for Health Safety
Disclosure: Adalja does not report any relevant financial information.
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