A missed opportunity to tackle next pandemic

After several months of intense deliberations and negotiations, the 12th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva on June 17 agreed on a series of deals, especially relating to temporary waiver of Intellectual Property (IP) on Covid-19 vaccines. This meeting was the 164-member WTO's first ministerial conference in nearly five years, following Covid-19 postponements. The Ministerial Conference is the WTO's top decision-making body and usually meets every two years. All members of the WTO are involved in the Ministerial Conference and they can take decisions on all matters covered under any multilateral trade agreements. In the just concluded meeting, the WTO members agreed to temporarily waive IP on Covid-19 vaccines without the consent of the patent holder for 5 years, so that they can more easily manufacture them domestically. But unfortunately, the current agreement at the WTO Ministerial Meeting is a watered down version of the original proposal made by India and South Africa in 2020.

Earlier in October 2020, India and South Africa had knocked at the doors of WTO for waiver of IP rights and patents for all Covid-19 medical products including vaccines. By this IP waiver, under certain provisions of the TRIPS Agreement, both the countries wanted to ensure rapid access to affordable medical products like diagnostic kits, PPEs, ventilators, vaccines and other medicines to prevent, contain and treat coronavirus disease. In the joint communication, both the countries wanted the waiver to continue until widespread vaccination is in place globally, and the majority of the world's population has developed immunity. Both the countries' clarion call for the waiver was relevant as the outbreak has led to a swift increase in global demand for these medical products with many countries facing acute shortages. Shortages of these Covid-19 medical 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 pandemic. The longer the current global crisis persists, the greater will be the socio-economic fallout, making it imperative and urgent to collaborate internationally to rapidly contain the outbreak.

Unfortunately, India's proposal at the WTO was then met with staunch opposition from a bloc of developed countries including the US, EU, UK, Switzerland, Norway, Australia, Canada and Japan, and later joined by Brazil. The US reiterated the importance of innovation during the Covid-19 pandemic for safe and affordable medical solutions, without looking into the issues raised by India and South Africa. The EU stated that it doesn't see IP as a barrier. The developed countries stated that suspending key protections of the TRIPS Agreement would send the wrong message to industry investors. As India and South Africa have persistently been advocating for IP waiver as one vital tool to address the concerns on availability of Covid-19 vaccines, the US President Joe Biden on May 6, 2021 supported India's plea for waiver of IP protections for Covid-19 vaccines. Following the US decision, France and New Zealand had also pledged their support to the IP waiver on Covid-19 vaccine. The European Union and several wealthy countries like Switzerland, Netherlands and Spain have said that it would be open to discussions and negotiations at the WTO.

But what has now come out is not at all as per the original proposal of both India and South Africa. Both the countries had wanted broader IP waivers on vaccines, treatments and diagnostics. But what has come out eventually is narrow in scope, as it did not cover all medical tools like diagnostics and treatments. It is clear that this agreement failed overall to offer an effective and meaningful solution to help increase people's access to needed medical tools during the pandemic as it does not adequately waive IP on all essential Covid-19 medical tools and it does not apply to all countries. It is disappointing that a true intellectual property waiver, proposed in October 2020 covering all Covid-19 medical tools and including all countries, could not be agreed, even during a pandemic that has claimed more than 15 million people's lives, and is still counting. So, it would have been appropriate for the WTO to adopt a resolution for waiving IP rights and patents for all Covid-19 medical supplies under these unprecedented medical emergencies like the one we are witnessing now. For the pharmaceutical industry, except for some big names, it is a missed opportunity.

(The author is freelance

journalist with varied experience

in different fields)