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31 March 2020Americas

Associations lobby WHO to build COVID-19 IP pool

Numerous associations and individuals have come together to ask the  World Health Organization (WHO) to build a global pool for IP rights related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last week, LSIPR reported that the Costa Rican government had asked the WHO to create the voluntary pool to collect patent rights for technologies that are useful for the detection, prevention, control and treatment of the disease.

The pool should include existing and future rights in patented inventions and designs, and rights in regulatory test data, know-how, cell lines, copyrights and blueprints for manufacturing diagnostic tests, devices, drugs, or vaccines, said Costa Rica in its letter to WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

On Friday, March 27, a range of signatories including associations, the global health law committee at the International Law Association, professors and former ministers published an  open letter to the WHO.

According to the letter, a pool would “allow for competitive and accelerated production” of needed COVID-19 technologies, and expand capacity to address the need for affordable products for all.

Signatories urged the WHO to reach out to member states that are funding biomedical research relevant to the current pandemic immediately, and engage other rights owners as well.

“We recognise that some governments and other entities may be reluctant to openly share technologies globally, such as by open licensing or licensing on reasonable and affordable royalties, when there is uncertainty about whether others will make similar commitments,” said the letter.

It added that—consistent with the Costa Rica proposal—the WHO should create an initial phase-one agreement that creates the “bare minimum legal basis” to permit such assignments/licences in the future.

This could be done by including options in funding contracts and creating a process for working out the details at a later date, including the ultimate decisions on which technologies to share, and the terms of the authorisations, including possible remuneration.

The letter said: “As rights [owners] work with the WHO and deepen their understanding of the challenges we face in responding to the pandemic, the logic and benefits of cooperation and global pooling will be compelling.”

Gregg Alton, former chief patient officer Gilead Sciences, signed the letter as an individual and stated that there has never been a more appropriate time to pool together knowledge and resources against a disease as there is now.

“This can be done in a way that respects and rewards everyone’s contributions and investments and that improves our ability to advance science toward combating this pandemic,” added Alton.

The open letter was published and signed by non-governmental organisation Knowledge Ecology International.

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More on this story

Americas
12 November 2020   Allied BioScience has accused its former CEO of holding the company's IP, including inventions relating to its COVID-19 antiviral disinfectant, to ransom so he can demand an unfair amount of compensation.
Big Pharma
23 February 2021   Innovation by medical and pharma sectors has increased over the past year in the wake of the pandemic, a new report by IP services company Clarivate has confirmed.
Big Pharma
1 September 2020   The European Commission’s first ever contract to secure a COVID-19 vaccine came into force on August 27, after it signed a deal with pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.