India and South Africa’s campaign to freely produce Covid-19 vaccines could hit yet another roadblock as Big pharma, hit by the decision by the Joe Biden administration, to back New Delhi and Pretoria, is now expected to heavily lobby the European Union to counter the move.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) will be the arena for the big battle that will now commence between the Global South and Big Pharma.
On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden supported a temporary waiver on intellectual property rights of global pharma companies manufacturing vaccines. The move will eventually imply a surge in vaccine production and ensure availability of shots in the developing world at a cheaper price.
Biden’s bold step is a big victory, especially for India and South Africa, which in October had proposed that at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that patent rights for pandemic-related medical products should be temporarily waived. The move was subsequently supported by nearly 60 countries.
Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had discussed lifting the patent protections of coronavirus vaccines with Biden.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi also informed President Biden about India's initiative at the WTO for a relaxation in the norms of the Agreement on TRIPS to ensure quick and affordable access to vaccines and medicines for developing countries,” said the statement released after the talks. The relaxation would grant governments quicker and more affordable access to the life-saving doses.
But the New York Times reported that support from the White House does not guarantee that a waiver will be adopted. The daily added that the European Union (U) has also been standing in the way, and changes to international intellectual property rules require unanimous agreement.
However, Washington appears prepared for the inevitable slugfest in Doha, the headquarters of the WTO.
Katherine Tai, the US trade representative said in a statement that negotiations "will take time given the consensus-based nature" of the WTO. But the United States would also continue to push for increased production and distribution of vaccines – and raw materials needed to make them – around the world, she said.
But the fierce resistance that Big Pharma will mount is inevitable. The knives are already out, as evidenced by the statement by Stephen J. Ubl, the president and chief executive of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, against Biden’s move. In his angry response, Ubl said that Washington’s decision marked “an unprecedented step that will undermine our global response to the pandemic and compromise safety.”
He added: “This decision will sow confusion between public and private partners, further weaken already strained supply chains and foster the proliferation of counterfeit vaccines.” The statement warned that Biden’s move would imply “handing over American innovations to countries looking to undermine our leadership in biomedical discovery”.
Others have joined the Big Pharma bandwagon. The Financial Times is quoting Jeremy Levin, chair of biotech trade association Bio as saying that, “The administration’s steps here are very unnecessary and damaging.” He added: “Securing vaccines rapidly will not be the result, and worse yet, it sets a principle that companies who invested in new tech will stand the risk of having that taken away.”
Sven Borho, a managing partner at OrbiMed Advisors, a healthcare investment company, said pharma executives feared the administration’s move set a precedent that would make it easier to suspend patents in the future, the daily observed.
But World Health Organisation’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, praised the U.S. decision as a “monumental moment in the fight against Covid-19” that reflects the “moral leadership” of the White House in the fight to end the pandemic.
