Expanding IP weakens global pandemic response – risks access

Whether or not the proposed accord will live up to global expectations for fairness and solidarity remains to be seen, however, as currently formulated, it does not address international and national intellectual property (IP) regimens (patents, copyrights, industrial designs, trade secrets and data rights) that negatively impact equitable access to pandemic health technologies. This means that pharmaceutical firms will continue to enjoy IP exclusivities that pose direct obstacles to increasing manufacturing capacity, and ensuring adequate supply, affordable pricing, and equitable access to COVID-19 and future pandemic vaccines, diagnostics, therapeutics and other health products in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). Within the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework, despite a push for a temporary waiver of IP rights on COVID-19 medical countermeasures by many LMICs, the recent WTO Ministerial Decision offers only a highly conditional compulsory licensing (CL) solution for patents that only covers export of vaccines to eligible developing countries.3 4 Though there was an initial 6-month window to extend the ‘solution’ to diagnostics and therapeutics, including the outpatient antivirals now widely available in the global North, this deadline was not met and has been further extended. Thus, the current state of affairs falls far short of the vision of a world that works together to fight global health emergencies through IP waivers and technology transfer (TT) initiatives that support alternative producers in poorer countries in making vaccines, diagnostics, therapeutics and other medical countermeasures and providing them equitably and affordably to their populations.5 Moreover, we support investments in basic health systems to buttress other aspects of pandemic preparation and response— from surveillance, testing, treatment, tracing and isolation capacity for a variety of potential pandemic threats, to investments in new manufacturing sites—and detail how representative governance at the global level can advance not only procedural justice and legitimacy but also enhance efforts for equitable allocation and uptake of these technologies. Our proposal makes actionable key ideas in section 5 of the International Panel on Pandemic Preparedness and Response’s recommendations.6