Intellectual property restrictions on the manufacture and production of COVID-19 vaccines have been partially waived for the next five years, after an agreement was reached on 17 June by participating countries attending the 12th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva, Switzerland.
A Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver for COVID-19 treatment was first proposed in 2020 by South Africa and India and supported by more than 100 countries.
The arrangement means developing nations may authorise the use of a patent’s subject matter without having to get authorisation from the right holder “before granting such authorisation, subject to payment of adequate renumeration to the rights holder, which may be determined taking into account any not-for-profit purpose of vaccine production”.
Additionally, writes Charleen Rupnarain, a senior associate Adams & Adams, in GO LEGAL, under the TRIPS agreement, a vaccine manufacturer will not be allowed to export its vaccines in bulk to another country, requiring the majority of vaccines produced to be retained by the manufacturing country.
However, the waiver allows developing countries to waive this restriction too, to export vaccines in bulk to other developing countries under any initiative to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, subject to an undertaking by the destination country not to re-export the shots.
Not included in the waiver are diagnostics and therapeutics: this will be decided on in six months’.
GoLegal article – Partial patent waiver for COVID-19 vaccines (Open access)
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Doctors Without Borders: WTO postponement underscores need for urgent action on TRIPS Waiver
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