The World Health Organization (WHO) has supported a proposal through South Africa and India to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to download an exemption on certain intellectual asset (IP) provisions that may impede access to medicines and vaccines. the new coronavirus.
Support comes at a time when the recently concluded TRIPS Council assembly has not reached consensus on the subject, preparing it for casual consultations for a solution until the end of the year. The TRIPS Council is guilty of the implementation of TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights).
In expressing his at a microblog site, WHO Director Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said WHO welcomed the recent proposal through South Africa and India to the WTO to “roll back agreements on foreign and intellectual assets on vaccines, remedies and evidence. “COVID19 so that the equipment is available to all who want it ».
He added: “Ending the pandemic begins with collaboration. WHO presented the COVID19 Access to Technology Group in May, inviting countries to share their data, knowledge and intellectual resources on life-saving fitness products to combat coronavirus. »
At the TRIPS Council meeting, India explained that the high-level asset exemption is vital “for those with inadequate or no production capacities for the fitness products needed to combat the Covid crisis. “In recent months, India has provided the necessary medical materials and equipment to combat the pandemic to more than 150 countries and has resisted attempts to seize materials across some countries. “
Emphasizing the need for a comprehensive solution to the pandemic, India said that “there is no denying the fact” that progression and equitable access to the team wanted to combat covid-19 were “limited through high-level asset barriers. “corporations in other parts of the world for violation of high-level assets in Covid-19 products, India added, IPR prevented “intensifying the production of control kit reagents, ventilation valves, N95 respirators, healing products, fluorescent proteins and other technologies used in vaccine progression, etc. »
Voluntary licensing was not the solution, India emphasized, because “no intellectual property owner has shown a willingness to interact in the Covid-19 Generation Access Group (C-TAP) and act-Accelerator voluntary projects introduced under the auspices of WHO. In fact, who’s representative to the Council admitted in reaction to a question that no pharmaceutical company has committed to sharing its high-level assets and technologies in the C-TAP group since its launch more than five months ago.
The repeal of intellectual property has won over the least developed countries, to which Bangladesh, Pakistan, Argentina and Indonesia are added; resistance from the European Union, the United States, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Brazil, and request for explanations from China, Thailand, Nigeria, Costa Rica, etc.
Countries that resisted the exemption under pressure that the TRIPS Agreement had flexibilities to facilitate access. In its response, South Africa said that the exemption was a suspension of transitoryness and not a substantive replacement in treaty obligations. Added.
In the run-up to the WTO meeting, several civil society voices supporting the repeal of intellectual property noted that “rich countries representing only 13% of the world’s population have blocked at least part of the doses of the world’s five most sensitive prospects. vaccines. “
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