Academic Open Letter in Support of the TRIPS Intellectual Property Waiver Proposal

Hj, Kang; McMahon, Aisling; Dutfield, Graham; McDonagh, Luke; Thambisetty, Siva

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3885568

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…Many legal experts, and civil society advocates, believe the waiver waiver in its original form would have been a bold and critical move to fast track production, supply and availability of COVID-19 vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics, especially in the mid and long term (119)(120)(121). The original proposal was also publicly supported by other social justice advocates, former and current heads of state, parliamentarians, and heads of multilateral institutions like the UN and WHO.…”

Section: Market Forcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Barriers to COVID-19 Health Products in Low-and Middle-Income Countries During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Rapid Systematic Review and Evidence Synthesis

Boro

Stoll

2022

Front. Public Health

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IntroductionThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has intensified the urgency in addressing pressing global health access challenges and has also laid bare the pervasive structural and systemic inequities that make certain segments of society more vulnerable to the tragic consequences of the disease. This rapid systematic review analyses the barriers to COVID-19 health products in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). It does so from the canon of global health equity and access to medicines by proposing an access to health products in low-and middle-income countries framework and typology adapted to underscore the complex interactive and multiplicative nature and effects of barriers to health products and their root cause as they coexist across different levels of society in LMICs.MethodsModified versions of the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) reviewers' manual for evidence synthesis of systematic reviews and the PRISMA-ScR framework were used to guide the search strategy, identification, and screening of biomedical, social science, and gray literature published in English between 1 January 2020 and 30 April 2021.ResultsThe initial search resulted in 5,956 articles, with 72 articles included in this review after screening protocol and inclusion criteria were applied. Thirty one percent of the articles focused on Africa. The review revealed that barriers to COVID-19 health products were commonly caused by market forces (64%), the unavailability (53%), inaccessibility (42%), and unaffordability (35%), of the products, incongruent donors' agenda and funding (33%) and unreliable health and supply systems (28%). They commonly existed at the international and regional (79%), health sectoral (46%), and national cross-sectoral [public policy] (19%) levels. The historical heritage of colonialism in LMICs was a commonly attributed root cause of the barriers to COVID-19 health products in developing countries.ConclusionThis review has outlined and elaborated on the various barriers to health products that must be comprehensively addressed to mount a successful global, regional, national and subnational response to present and future epidemics and pandemics in LMICs.

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Section: Market Forcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Barriers to COVID-19 Health Products in Low-and Middle-Income Countries During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Rapid Systematic Review and Evidence Synthesis

Boro

Stoll

2022

Front. Public Health

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“…On the other hand, it is noteworthy that the UK emerged as a leading supporter of the COVAX initiative, which aimed to ensure fair global access to Covid-19 vaccines, pledging £548 million and 80 million Covid-19 vaccine doses (Gavi 2021;Loft 2022a;Loft 2022b). This contrasted with the UK government's decision to oppose the initiative at the WTO for a Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) waiver to boost vaccine production more widely (Loft 2022b;Yoon Kang et al 2021; see Chapter 5).…”

Section: Uk-africa Tradementioning

confidence: 99%

How Africa Trades

2023

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Trade is an essential driver of economic transformation, growth, and prosperity. At a time of global uncertainty and policy fluidity, this comprehensive volume demystifies African trade and trade policy to provide a deeper understanding of how trade impacts the lives of all Africans and the continent’s development aspirations. Featuring a wealth of data-driven evaluations of trade negotiations and policy choices, How Africa Trades is an invaluable open access resource for making sense of the continent’s major trade challenges, including commodity dependence, competitiveness, and how African countries engage with often unconducive international trade rules that distort global markets. In-depth analysis focuses on intra-African trade initiatives, including the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), trade between African countries and their major trading partners, and how the short-term shocks of Covid-19 restrictions brought about longer-term changes in informal and formal trade patterns, and sped-up shifts in digital trade. Edited by Professor David Luke, and featuring vital contributions on trade economics, international law and sustainable development, How Africa Trades draws on the research expertise of LSE’s Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa. This volume provides information, expertise and tools for policymakers, stakeholders and scholars with an interest in understanding the dynamics of trade and in making effective policy decisions that centre development and inclusivity for Africa and its people.

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“…8 This would have cleared existing IP barriers on all COVID-19 health products and technologies, including vaccines, therapeutics, and personal protective equipment. 9,10 Although this quickly garnered support from other members, it drew strong opposition from some developed countries, including the European Union (EU), Switzerland, and the United States. 11 However, the United States-following a change in administration-announced in May 2021 that it would support discussions regarding a waiver.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In October 2020, India and South Africa submitted a proposal to the TRIPS Council in October 2020 calling for partial suspension of the TRIPS Agreement to facilitate the “prevention, containment or treatment of COVID‐19.” 8 This would have cleared existing IP barriers on all COVID‐19 health products and technologies, including vaccines, therapeutics, and personal protective equipment 9,10 . Although this quickly garnered support from other members, it drew strong opposition from some developed countries, including the European Union (EU), Switzerland, and the United States 11 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Trade‐Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Flexibilities and Public Health: Implementation of Compulsory Licensing Provisions into National Patent Legislation

McGIVERN

2023

Milbank Quarterly

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Policy Points Given the challenges associated with negotiating the COVID‐19 Trade‐Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Waiver, there are questions as to whether the World Trade Organization is able to effectively address pandemics and global crises under the current architecture. Although the framework set out by the TRIPS Agreement does not view intellectual property (IP) rights as a means to foster public health and development, IP rights should nonetheless be interpreted through a public health lens. Countries should implement compulsory licensing provisions into their patent legislation, which increase access to medicines and allow governments (especially in developing and least‐developed countries) to better protect public health. ContextThe protection of intellectual property (IP) rights, given international legal effect through the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade‐Related Aspects of IP Rights (TRIPS) Agreement, has long been a contentious issue. In recent years, the long‐standing debate on IP rights as a barrier to the access of affordable medicines has been heightened by the global vaccine inequity evidenced during the COVID‐19 pandemic. The TRIPS Agreement contains a number of flexibilities that WTO members can exploit in order to accommodate their policy needs. Among these is the mechanism of compulsory licensing, whereby patent licenses may be granted without consent of the patent holder in certain circumstances. TRIPS Article 31bis created a special mechanism for compulsory licenses specifically for the export of pharmaceutical products to countries with insufficient manufacturing capacity.MethodsWe analyzed domestic patent legislation for 195 countries (193 UN members and two observers) and three customs territories. We analyzed patent legislation for provisions on compulsory licenses, including those defined in Article 31bis of the TRIPS Agreement.FindingsWe identified 11 countries with no patent legislation. Of the 187 countries with domestic or regional patent laws, 176 (94.1%) had provisions on compulsory licensing and 72 (38.5%) had provisions implementing TRIPS Article 31bis.ConclusionsThe results of this study have highlighted the gap in the implementation of TRIPS flexibilities in countries’ national patent legislation, especially in least‐developed countries. Although it will not fully solve patent barriers to the access of medicines, implementation of compulsory licensing (and specifically those for the import and export of pharmaceutical products) will provide governments with another tool to safeguard their population's public health. Further discussions are needed to determine whether the WTO can provide effective responses to future pandemics or global crises.

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Academic Open Letter in Support of the TRIPS Intellectual Property Waiver Proposal

Cited by 8 publications

References 0 publications

Barriers to COVID-19 Health Products in Low-and Middle-Income Countries During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Rapid Systematic Review and Evidence Synthesis

Barriers to COVID-19 Health Products in Low-and Middle-Income Countries During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Rapid Systematic Review and Evidence Synthesis

How Africa Trades

Trade‐Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Flexibilities and Public Health: Implementation of Compulsory Licensing Provisions into National Patent Legislation

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