A Canadian pharmaceutical company, Biolyse, has agreed to provide Bolivia with 15 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine – as long as the Canadian government gives it a compulsory license to manufacture the vaccine. In March, Johnson & Johnson rejected an application by Biolyse for a voluntary license to make a generic […] Continue reading ->
World Trade Organization’s (WTO) director general Ngozi Onkonjo-Iweala on Thursday hailed the United States government’s decision to support the suspension of intellectual property rules on COVID-19 vaccines – while also emphasising the urgency of even more immediate actions to increase vaccine supplies to lower-income countries. In a statement after a two-day closed-door WTO General […] Continue reading ->
The United States has swung its weight behind a hotly-debated proposal by India and South Africa to suspend intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines for the duration of the pandemic. The dramatic turnabout in the US position, announced Wednesday evening by US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, signals a sea change in the balance of powers […] Continue reading ->
CAPE TOWN – The “circular discussion” at the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the TRIPS waiver needs to move to “text-based” negotiations, Ambassador Xolelwa Mlumbi-Peter, South Africa’s Permanent Representative to the WTO said on Tuesday. Her Indian counterpart, Brajendra Navnit, added that opponents of the waiver had been using “delaying tactics” since the beginning of […] Continue reading ->
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, a “silent pandemic” of drug resistance to mutated bacteria, viruses and parasites is gaining ground and requires major government investments in antibiotic research and development (R&D), a group of experts has warned. “People are dying across the world from drug-resistant infections. This is a problem of today, and […] Continue reading ->
Nearly 400 members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and of national parliaments from across the European Union issued a joint appeal Tuesday calling for the European Commission to drop its opposition to a proposed WTO waiver on IP related to COVID-19 health technologies for the duration of the pandemic, being co-sponsored by India and South […] Continue reading ->
Amid a huge global push for the World Trade Organization (WTO) to waive intellectual property (IP) rights on products related to COVID-19 for the duration of the pandemic, the pharmaceutical industry launched a document on Monday – World IP Day – asserting that a “strong IP system advances public health” . According to the 10-point […] Continue reading ->
As the hotly contested proposal for an IP waiver on COVID-related health products comes up again for debate on Friday, 30 April at the World Trade Organization’s TRIPS Council, legal expert Hyo Yoon Kang looks at the foundations of IP law to challenge “TRIPS waiver” naysayers. Geneva Health Files [GHF]: You have argued that IP […] Continue reading ->
One of the few silver linings of the COVID-19 pandemic is the unprecedented collaboration of every sector of society to overcome it – best demonstrated by the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-Accelerator), which celebrated its first anniversary on Friday. The ACT-Accelerator’s most famous pillar is the vaccine facility, COVAX, which has distributed almost 40 […] Continue reading ->
Growing Consensus Emerging At WTO – Strengthen Supply Chain & Tech Transfer To Expand Vaccine Access
A growing consensus seems to be emerging out of this week’s high-level WTO meeting that glaring inequities in access to vaccines can be remedied by strengthening supply chains, avoiding export bans across borders, and ensuring that big pharma voluntarily transfers its vaccine technologies to poorer countries so they can produce their own vaccines. “The significant […] Continue reading ->