Democrats and Republicans oppose waivers, plan brings support to Harris

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/29/bidens-got-pharmas-back-in-global-pandemic-treaty-negotiations-00138133

During the worst of the Covid pandemic, under pressure from the progressive wing of his party, the Biden administration reversed longstanding U.S. policy opposing waivers of patent protections. In May 2021, as developing countries watched rich nations vaccinate their citizens while they waited for shots, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced America’s support for a proposal from South Africa and India that would waive those protections for Covid vaccines as part of World Trade Organization talks. The administration supported the waiver because of the gravity of the situation at the time in an effort to end the pandemic, the HHS spokesperson said. But when WTO member countries agreed finally in June 2022 to issue the waiver, theoretically permitting developing countries to make their own Covid vaccines using U.S. drugmakers’ formulas, it came too late. Pharmaceutical companies in Western countries and India were pumping out millions of doses but demand for shots had waned globally, as people saw the risk of severe disease diminishing. Talks about extending the waiver to include Covid tests and treatments continue at the WTO but face bipartisan opposition in Congress. The WTO process revealed a deep split within the Democratic Party, with progressives supportive of broad waivers of U.S. intellectual property rights, and moderate Democrats strongly opposed. Republicans also opposed the waivers. More than a dozen senators from both parties, including Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), wrote to Biden and Tai this month asking them to reject the waiver of patent protections for tests and treatments because, they said, it wouldn’t improve global access to Covid drugs while negatively impacting “American manufacturers, innovation, and global competitiveness.” Nearly 20 House Democrats signed a similar letter in December. Pharma representatives said that forcing them to share their formulas wouldn’t lead to much manufacturing in the developing world because companies seeking to produce vaccines and drugs need knowledge and expertise that don’t come with patents. “This doesn’t work if it’s coerced,” said Thomas Cueni, director general of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations, of the patent waivers. And the Biden administration, despite its willingness to loosen patent protections during the worst days of Covid, has taken pharma’s side in the treaty negotiations that could guide the world’s response to the next pandemic. Some European nations, including Germany, have also sided with their drugmakers. The top U.S. negotiator for the pandemic treaty, Hamamoto, argued in a meeting in Geneva in November that requiring more access to U.S. drugmakers’ inventions would undermine the very system that worked in response to Covid without improving access during future pandemics. “The United States believes strongly in IP protections, which serve to fuel investment and innovations,” she said, adding that the U.S. is also “exploring options” to make tests, drugs and vaccines more readily available for developing countries during future pandemics. Jim Risch, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s top Republican, who would exercise influence if a treaty ever makes it to the Senate for ratification, said he couldn’t support a deal that threatens intellectual property rights. The Idaho senator agrees the U.S. needs to help others access vaccines, but he said “giving away IP protections will kill innovation.”