Under-pressure pharma groups release vaccine scale-up plan
Several pharmaceutical organisations have joint-published a five-step plan to help provide more equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines that would avoid waiving IP rights.
The plan was released jointly by PhRMA, ABPI, BIO, EFPIA, ICBA, IFPMA and Vaccines Europe on May 19, just weeks after the Biden administration announced its support for the waiving of certain IP rights for COVID-19 vaccines.
Introducing the plan, the group said: “Manufacturers, governments, and non-governmental organisations must work together to take urgent steps to further address this inequity. Immediate action must focus on stepping up responsible dose sharing and maximising production without compromising quality or safety.”
As part of the plan, the pharmaceutical companies have committed to increasing dose sharing for low and lower-middle-income countries and manufacture “uncommitted” vaccines for these countries and make them available through the COVAX relief system.
Secondly, the group promises to “undertake all practicable efforts to maximise COVID-19 vaccine output without compromising safety and quality”. This includes working with governments and suppliers to safely scale up manufacturing.
It also calls for the elimination of trade barriers for “critical input materials” by working with governments and the World Trade Organization (WTO) to adopt policies that “facilitate and expedite “the cross-border supply of key raw materials, essential manufacturing materials and vaccines”.
Additionally, the consortium commits to better support governments on vaccine deployment in lower-income countries and prioritise the development of new COVID vaccines against new variants of the virus.
Pharmaceutical bodies have been the biggest opposers of the proposed temporary Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver first brought to the WTO by India and South Africa.
After several failed attempts to get the waiver passed, the US came out in support of the waiver in an announcement by US trade representative Katherine Tai on Wednesday, April 5.
But for the waiver to be passed, it will need to receive unanimous approval by the WTO members, and several countries such as the UK and Switzerland remain opposed.
Others have called into question whether the waiving of IP rights will actually result in better access to drugs. Last week, The International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI) released a position paper that highlighted the importance of IP in the development of vaccines.
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