South Africa, India urge WTO to waive IP for COVID-19 treatments
South Africa and India have asked the World Trade Organization (WTO) to cede some stipulations governing IP so that treatments to combat COVID-19 can become more widely available, particularly in low-income countries.
In the letter, issued October 2, the two countries warned the organisation that certain parts of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), that cover IP, could prevent or delay access to essential medical products.
“Given this present context of global emergency, it is important for WTO members to work together to ensure that IP rights such as patents, industrial designs, copyright and protection of undisclosed information do not create barriers to the timely access to affordable medical products, including vaccines and medicines or the scaling-up of research, development, manufacturing and supply of medical products essential to combat COVID-19,” said the letter.
Developing nations and the world’s least developed countries, the letter noted, have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, and “may face institutional and legal difficulties” under the TRIPS agreement.
Countries with insufficient or no manufacturing capacity, in particular, face cumbersome and lengthy processes relating to the importation and exportation of pharmaceutical products as a result of conditions within the agreement, the countries said.
The letter stated that the outbreak had led to a swift increase in global demand with many countries facing acute shortages, constraining their ability to effectively respond to the outbreak.
“Shortages of these products have put the lives of health and other essential workers at risk and led to many avoidable deaths. It is also threatening to prolong the COVID-19 pandemic. The longer the current global crisis persists, the greater the socio-economic fallout, making it imperative and urgent to collaborate internationally to rapidly contain the outbreak,” it added.
It added that as new diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines for COVID-19 are developed, there are significant concerns around how these will be made available promptly, in sufficient quantities and at an affordable price to meet global demand.
The letter said: “An effective response to COVID-19 pandemic requires rapid access to affordable medical products including diagnostic kits, medical masks, other personal protective equipment and ventilators, as well as vaccines and medicines for the prevention and treatment of patients in dire need.”
The letter went on to request that the WTO’s Council for TRIPS recommend a waiver to the General Council, the WTO’s decision-making body in Geneva, “as early as possible”.
The countries added that if the waiver is granted, it should continue until widespread vaccination is in place globally, and the majority of the world's population has developed an immunity to COVID-19.
The move comes after the World Health Organisation launched a Technology Access Pool in May (TAP), which collects patent rights, regulatory test data, and other information that can be shared for developing drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics to combat the pandemic.
The effort, however, has met with opposition from the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations.
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