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7 April 2020Big PharmaSarah Morgan

EU should buy patent rights for COVID-19 tests, says Greece

Greece has reportedly suggested that EU member states should jointly buy patent rights for COVID-19 tests and vaccines to ensure rapid distribution across the EU.

Speaking to German newspaper  Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that finding a way to rapidly distribute vaccines was a difficult but urgent problem.

According to Mitsotakis, at least 20 vaccines against COVID-19 are currently under development, and many of these are being subsidised by individual governments or charities.

“Ideally, once their efficacy has been proven, such vaccines should be distributed as quickly and fairly as possible, and at a reasonable cost,” Mitsotakis told FAZ.

The prime minister is backing a proposal from government adviser Ilias Mosialos, who also serves as head of the department of health policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Speaking to  Reuters, Modelos said that the cost for patent rights could be distributed among EU countries, and it would allow for production at a range of locations and wide distribution.

However, he added that this would be a one-off solution, used only in extreme cases such as a pandemic.

Worldwide calls for patent relief

Greece is not the only country looking carefully at the IP issues involved.

Late last month, LSIPR reported that the Costa Rican government had asked the World Health Organization (WHO) to create a voluntary pool to collect patent rights.

The IP involved would cover technologies that are useful for the detection, prevention, control and treatment of the COVID-19 pandemic and, according to the government, the pool should provide for free access or licensing on “reasonable and affordable terms”, in every member country.

Dozens of associations and individuals  backed the Costa Rican proposal in a subsequent letter to the WHO, which said that the pool would expand capacity to address the need for affordable products for all.

Emergency measures

Other governments are taking the compulsory licensing route.

A committee in the National Assembly of Ecuador has  approved a resolution asking the Minister of Health to issue licences that would allow the government to sidestep patents related to COVID-19 medical technologies.

In Chile, the lower house of Chile's bicameral Congress  approved a resolution asking their government to declare that there is justification for compulsory licences.

And, despite  AbbVie still holding patent protection for its Kaletra (lopinavir–ritonavir), Israel has  approved generic versions of the HIV antiviral for use in treating coronavirus.

Canada has also  authorised compulsory licensing—amendments to the Patent Act will give the minister of health the powers to seek authorisation for manufacturers to produce patented inventions, including pharmaceuticals and medical devices.

According to a government spokesperson, the amendments ensure that patent owners will receive adequate remuneration and place a limit on the duration of the compulsory licence.

Sister-site  WIPR recently looked into the IP issues surrounding a  shortage of ventilators in the UK, where the Prime Minister has called on manufacturers to help build more by switching production lines to focus on urgently-needed medical equipment.


More on this story

Americas
26 March 2020   The Costa Rican government has asked the World Health Organization to create a voluntary pool to collect patent rights for technologies that are useful for the detection, prevention, control and treatment of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Generics
24 March 2020   Israel has approved generic versions of an HIV antiviral owned by AbbVie for use in treating coronavirus, despite the company still holding patent protection and doubts over its effectiveness.

More on this story

Americas
26 March 2020   The Costa Rican government has asked the World Health Organization to create a voluntary pool to collect patent rights for technologies that are useful for the detection, prevention, control and treatment of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Generics
24 March 2020   Israel has approved generic versions of an HIV antiviral owned by AbbVie for use in treating coronavirus, despite the company still holding patent protection and doubts over its effectiveness.