MUMBAI: European Union has drawn up a counter proposal which could “undermine’’ India and South Africa’s proposed submission at the World Trade Organization seeking a waiver on intellectual property (IP) on Covid-19 drugs and vaccines.
This comes ahead of the World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting slated on June 8, in the midst of stark inequities in the access to Covid-19 vaccines, globally.
Opposition to the submission continues with the EU, Japan, UK and Switzerland stalling it, while importantly, the US threw its weight behind the waiver.
If adopted at the WTO, the waiver would provide countries with critical policy space to address IP barriers to increase collaboration in research and development, manufacturing, scale-up, and, hence boost supply of Covid-19 medicines and vaccines.
The EU proposal calls governments to “facilitate the use of compulsory licensing within the WTO’s existing agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
The Agreement already provides this flexibility, which is a legitimate tool during the pandemic that can be used swiftly where needed’’.
(Compulsory licensing –used during previous public health emergencies– is when a government grants a license to a company without the patent holder’s consent, for accessing a therapy) It also says the use of export restrictions should be limited, and supply chains be open.
“Vaccine-producing countries should be ready to export a fair share of their domestic production.
Supply chains are highly interconnected and should not be disrupted’’, the statement added.
The European Union counter proposal to TRIPS waiver is not fit for purpose, and nothing but a manoeuver to push for voluntary actions of pharmaceutical corporations as a solution to replace a concrete legal solution backed by over 100 countries, public health experts say.
“EU aims to disrupt the negotiations with these “new” proposal, which is nothing more than CLs as we know.
We have a good momentum now with the US, along with 100 countries backing it.
India and South Africa have submitted a revised proposal, and (this) should be a good start for negotiations’’, Burcu Kiliç research director at Public Citizen said.
Further, international humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) denounced the EU, and countries including the UK, Switzerland and Norway for employing delay tactics, instead of agreeing to start formal negotiations on the critical waiver.
“The proposal ignores the shortcomings of existing regulations including compulsory licensing, and the impact– decades of bilateral pressure from the EU has had on their implementation –in many countries across the world.
Our analysis has shown that compulsory licenses alone would not be enough to achieve urgent access to lifesaving Covid-19 medical tools even in the EU itself during this pandemic’’, a MSF official told TOI.
The EU proposal only applies to patent barriers and does not address IP barriers in the regulatory system, which are required to be waived, when countries and manufacturers are seeking expansion, and supply of Covid-19 vaccines, medicines and other health technology.
It seems to focus on vaccines and to some extent therapeutics, instead of covering all Covid-19 medical technologies, the experts added.