U.S. Backs Waiving Patent Protections for Covid Vaccines, Citing Global Health Crisis
DeathMonkey writes:
U.S. backs waiving patent protections for Covid vaccines, citing global health crisis:
The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it supports waiving intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines, as countries struggle to manufacture the life-saving doses.
"This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures. The Administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines," United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai wrote in a statement.
"As our vaccine supply for the American people is secured, the Administration will continue to ramp up its efforts - working with the private sector and all possible partners - to expand vaccine manufacturing and distribution. It will also work to increase the raw materials needed to produce those vaccines," the statement added.
[...] Stocks of major pharmaceutical companies that have produced vaccines, including Moderna, BioNTech and Pfizer, dropped sharply after news of the potentialwaivers first broke. Pfizer ended its trading day flat, while Moderna lost 6.1%; Johnson & Johnson shed a modest 0.4%.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America expressed pointed opposition to the Biden administration's support for waiving IP protections. The trade group's members include vaccine makers such as AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson.
[...] World Trade Organization leaders reportedly urged member nations this week to quickly hash out the details of an agreement to temporarily ease the rules protecting intellectual property behind coronavirus vaccines. The waiver, proposed by South Africa and India, could remove obstacles to ramping up the production of vaccines in developing countries.
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