EC backs voluntary COVID-19 vaccine licensing
The European Commission has backed voluntary IP licensing as part of its new vaccines strategy.
In a policy paper sent by the Commission to other EU institutions yesterday, June 17, the Commission said it supports the: “voluntary pooling and licensing of IP related to COVID-19 therapeutics and vaccines, in line with the recent resolution of the World Health Assembly.”
There is increasing pressure on IP owners to make their technology freely available as part of patent pools or through voluntary licensing schemes. The World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO), last month backed the use of voluntary licensing mechanisms and patent pools to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 technologies.
Speaking to LSIPR last month, health campaigner Heidi Chow championed the role of patent pools and compulsory licensing in order to ensure equitable access to a COVID-19 vaccine, as well as potential treatments.
But this push has been opposed by Big Pharma, with several leading drugmakers reiterating the importance of IP in recent weeks.
The US government distanced itself from the IP part of the WHO resolution, arguing that it sent the “wrong message to innovators who will be essential to the solutions the whole world needs”.
Pascal Soriot, chief executive of AstraZeneca, has also claimed that “if you don’t protect IP, there’s no incentive for anybody to innovate”.
The European Commission’s new vaccines strategy does not mention compulsory licensing, only mechanisms for the voluntary pooling of IP.
It states the importance of “global solidarity” and commits to “universal, equitable and affordable access to vaccines, especially for the most vulnerable countries”.
The Commission added that it is willing to “explore with international partners if a significant number of countries would agree to pool resources for jointly reserving future vaccines from companies for themselves as well as for low and middle-income countries at the same time”.
“The high-income countries could act as an inclusive international buyers' group, thus accelerating the development of safe and effective vaccines and maximise access to them for all who need it across the world,” a Commission statement said.
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