{"id":105553,"date":"2021-05-08T09:01:13","date_gmt":"2021-05-08T03:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=105553"},"modified":"2021-05-09T11:07:06","modified_gmt":"2021-05-09T05:37:06","slug":"ipr-waiver-for-covid-19-vaccines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/ipr-waiver-for-covid-19-vaccines\/","title":{"rendered":"IPR Waiver For Covid 19 Vaccines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><b>Synopsis<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The US is now supporting the plea of developing countries for granting an IPR waiver to Covid-19 vaccines. The waiver would allow the countries to speed up the production process without the permission of manufacturing company. However, significant roadblocks exist that may prevent the grant of waiver.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>Background<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The US has shown its willingness to an IPR waiver for Covid-19 vaccines. It would be pursuing text-based negotiations on the waiver at the World Trade Organization (WTO).<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under text-based negotiations, negotiators exchange their preferred texts and then try to develop a consensus over them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Experts believe that US support is based on an October 2020 proposal given by India and South Africa in the WTO.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, the October proposal called for a waiver on all Covid-19 interventions. This includes testing, diagnostics, and novel therapeutics.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><b>About Patents and Intellectual Property:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A patent is a type of intellectual property right. It is an exclusive right that a government grants to an inventor for a limited, pre-specified time.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It provides an enforceable legal right to prevent others from copying the invention.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Types of Patents:<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Product Patent:<\/strong> No person can manufacture the patented product without the consent of the patent holder even if he\/she uses an alternative process.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Process Patent:<\/strong> Under this only the process is protected. A person can manufacture the patented product using an alternate process.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Type of regime in India<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India moved from product patenting to process patenting in the 1970s. This enabled it to become a significant producer of generic drugs on a global scale.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It allowed companies like Cipla to provide Africa with anti-HIV drugs in the 1990s.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, due to obligations arising out of the TRIPS Agreement, it had to amend the Patents Act in 2005. This made a switch to a product patents regime across the pharma, chemicals, and biotech sectors.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h5><b>The October 2020 proposal<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India and South Africa had asked the WTO to waive certain conditions of the Trade-Related Aspects of <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/intellectual-property-rightsipr-and-universal-vaccination-explained-pointwise\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Intellectual Property Rights<\/a> (TRIPS) Agreement.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The countries <\/span><b>wanted a waiver over sections 1, 4, 5, and 7 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that could impede timely access to affordable medical products to combat Covid-19.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The sections relate to copyright and related rights, industrial designs, patents, and the protection of undisclosed information.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Need of IPR waiver<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Boost Production<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Currently, most production is concentrated in high-income countries. With a waiver, the middle-income countries would be able to manufacture covid vaccines with emergency use authorisations (EUA). This includes vaccines developed by Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Novavax, Bharat Biotech, etc.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Reducing Cost of Production<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: The manufacturing in middle-income companies is currently happening through licensing or technology transfer agreements. The companies which grant the license, charge a hefty price for it. The companies would not need a license after an IPR waiver.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Avert legal Difficulties<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: The developing countries may face institutional and legal difficulties when using flexibilities available in the TRIPS Agreement. The waiver would help in averting this problem.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Roadblocks in granting IPR waiver:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Procedure Complexities:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The nature of text-based negotiations can delay the process. Further, even one country can veto the waiver as granting requires consensus among all 164 members of WTO.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Disincentivization of Companies<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Waiver may reduce the earning potential of companies. They may be disincentivized to do more research on tackling new variants. This may undermine the global response to the pandemic.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Erosion of Public Trust<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: People may not trust the quality and efficacy of vaccines manufactured in a middle-income country.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Production barriers:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Ramping up production capacities will be a lengthy process. The developing countries that are currently producing Covid 19 vaccines are able to do so with the extensive support and grant of developed countries.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Other Challenges concerning the production and distribution of Covid vaccines in developing countries:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Scarcity of Raw Material:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It has been a growing issue for ramping up production. Several manufacturers have been relying on specific suppliers, and alternatives are limited.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Trade Barriers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: US has blocked exports of critical raw materials used in the <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/issues-in-pricing-mechanism-of-covid-19-vaccines\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Covid-19 vaccines<\/a> using regulations like the American Defence Production Act. This led to a delay in the production of Covid vaccines by some companies in India.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Acquisition Capability of Developed World<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: They have a higher propensity to purchase the vaccine. This has enabled them to acquire most of the supplies.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Way Forward<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Firstly,<\/strong> the developed countries should understand the plight of developing countries under the current extraordinary circumstances. The recent intention of the EU to support the U.S proposal should be materialised in reality.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Secondly,<\/strong> other covid related interventions including testing, diagnostics, and novel therapeutics should be made part of IPR waiver proposal.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Thirdly,<\/strong> the developing world should be given an opportunity to develop cheap and efficacious vaccines. They have already shown their manufacturing capabilities by developing good quality generic medicines in the past.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-ip-waiver-for-covid-vaccines-7304992\/\">Click Here<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Synopsis: The US is now supporting the plea of developing countries for granting an IPR waiver to Covid-19 vaccines. The waiver would allow the countries to speed up the production process without the permission of manufacturing company. However, significant roadblocks exist that may prevent the grant of waiver. Background: The US has shown its willingness&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/ipr-waiver-for-covid-19-vaccines\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">IPR Waiver For Covid 19 Vaccines<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,8043,1351,1310,9],"tags":[1436],"class_list":["post-105553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-current-affairs-cat","category-daily-news","category-daily-news-updates","category-public","tag-st_7","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704755933},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105553\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}