Civic Register
| 5.6.21

Germany Balks at Biden Admin's Push for Waiver of Patent Protections for COVID Vaccines
Do you support or oppose waiving intellectual property protections for COVID vaccines?
UPDATE 5/6/21
- German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced her opposition to the Biden administration’s push for the waiver of patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines, which leaves the future prospects for the waiver up in the air.
- A spokeswoman for the German government said in an email that the waiver would create “severe complications” for vaccine production and noted:
“The limiting factor for the production of vaccines are manufacturing capacities and high quality standards, not the patents. The protection of intellectual property is a source of innovation and this has to remain so in the future.”
- Germany is the most prominent nation that has expressed opposition to the waiver at the World Trade Organization, where the debate is expected to continue. BioNTech, a pharmaceutical company based in Mainz, Germany, collaborated with U.S. drugmaker Pfizer in developing a cutting-edge mRNA vaccine.
- For the waiver to be adopted, all 164 member nations of the WTO must unanimously agree to do so under the terms of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The TRIPS agreement governs intellectual property protections in international trade.
The original article appears below.
What’s the story?
- The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it will support international efforts led by India and South Africa to waive intellectual property protections for coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines. The U.S. and other wealthy nations, including the European Union, previously opposed the waiver and argued it would disincentivize pharmaceutical companies from innovating products to fight the current pandemic and those that arise in the future.
- U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai released a statement which explained the Biden administration supports taking the “extraordinary measures” of waiving the patents, but cautioned that the process of doing so will take time:
“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. We will actively participate in text-based negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) needed to make that happen. Those negotiations will take time given the consensus-based nature of the institution and the complexity of the issues involved.
The Administration’s aim is to get as many safe and effective vaccines to as many people as fast as possible. 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 decision impacts several American and European pharmaceutical companies that have produced COVID-19 vaccines, including Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, and potentially Moderna, which previously said it wouldn’t enforce COVID vaccine patents during the pandemic and expressed a willingness to license the patents to other nations.
- Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in an interview Tuesday that the notion of a forced patent waiver is “so wrong” and doesn’t make sense because simply waiving the patents won’t in and of itself lead to increased production of vaccine doses due to the novel processes used to make messenger RNA vaccines like Pfizer’s.
- Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, explained in a March 2021 Wall Street Journal column that waiving intellectual property protections is offering “false hope of a quick fix” because it doesn’t address the scarcity of ingredients:
“Covid vaccines require a complex manufacturing process. Some difficult-to-secure ingredients and equipment, such as the scarce lipid particle and mixers to make mRNA vaccines such as the one produced by Pfizer. There aren’t enough of these materials anywhere in the world. Allowing other manufacturers to appropriate the intellectual property wouldn’t increase the supply of the starting ingredients. It will make it harder for the current drug makers to produce these vaccines. As raw ingredients are diverted to new manufacturers with far less efficient production, and as these new companies would then run new clinical trials on copied vaccines, world-wide production of the vaccines would decline, not expand.”
- In an interview on CNBC, Gottlieb said Wednesday that while some manufacturers in India, South Africa, China, and Russia may be able to produce the currently IP-protected vaccines over time through tech transfers and collaboration, it won’t be a quick process:
“These things are complex. We just need to be honest that if we’re promising people that they’re going to get a vaccine by giving away the IP, they’re not going to get a vaccine from that for at least probably a year, maybe more.”
What are the implications of waiving the IP?
- Temporarily lifting patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines would open the door to generics, which would almost assuredly be cheaper than the branded versions currently available from the original developers. This could be an important benefit to poorer developing nations that cannot currently afford to buy vaccines for their citizens.
- H.I.V. drugs are a classic example of the potentially vast price differential between generic and branded drugs. In 2018, Tivicay — the branded version of dolutegravir (DTG) — cost $39,000 a year in the U.S. In Africa, its generic versions cost $75 a year. The only difference between the generic and branded drugs? Their names and the location of the patients receiving them.
- However, it’s also worth considering the potential negative ramifications of massively deflating pharmaceutical companies’ expected revenues from COVID-19 vaccines. In a December 2020 op-ed, International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations Director General Thomas Cueni wrote:
“[I]f successful, the effort [to suspend patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines] would jeopardize future medical innovation, making us more vulnerable to other diseases. Intellectual property rights, including patents, grant inventors a period of exclusivity to make and market their creations. By affording these rights to those who create intangible assets, such as musical compositions, software or drug formulas — people will invent more useful new things… The companies and investors who fund research shoulder so much risk because they have a shot at a reward. Once a patent expires, generic companies are free to produce the same product. Intellectual property rights underpin the system that gives us all new medicines, from psychiatric drugs to cancer treatments.”
- Furthermore, Cueni pointed out that there are many alternatives to ending patent protections to lower drug prices for citizens of poorer nations. For example, companies can choose to license their patents for free, sell drugs at cost, or negotiate lower bulk purchase prices with governments or other entities. These options are all being exercised by various COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers, and do not carry the potential negative consequences of ending patent protection.
— Eric Revell and Lorelei Yang
(Photo Credit: iStock.com / MarsBars)
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This is how globally we move forward. Personally, life saving treatment and medicine shouldn't be alloe to be sold for profit or protected by patents
This will just dissuades companies from working on vaccines in the future
Doesn't China do this
As your #NY01 constituent, Kevin M. Shea at 1489 Sound avenue, Calverton, NY 11933, I support waiving intellectual property protections for COVID vaccines
Try to stay focused on the real facts. Pharma gets billions of tax dollars for research and development. They are getting reimbursed for the vaccines being sent out. They caused the drug crisis, which we've now pretty much forgotten about, that has killed hundreds and hundreds of people with absolutely no consequences for their false advertising and their outright lying to physicians and others. They destroyed the pain management industry in this country with that little stunt. They all belong in prison to begin with, but we have allowed them to continue and now it's their "right" to patent the vaccine. It's my right to see them punished for the drug crisis, but you don't see that happening, do ya?
Of COURSE.. Why the heck give up our research to other countries. Democrats continue to amaze everyone. Germany, as left as Merkel is - said no! How ridiculous...
I have no sympathy for the multi-billion dollar Big Pharma industry. It's about time they received some karma for their dangerous drugs and vaccines that have murdered countless millions of people. https://birthofanewearthblog.com/covid-vaccine-injuries-and-deaths/
This is a GLOBAL pandemic. It is simply immoral that while millions of people are dying around the world, the wealthy nations are not concerned with saving lives by sharing the formulations for vaccines. Instead, they are most worried about 'intellectual property', i.e. the bottom line of obscenely wealthy big pharma.
You have an idea. You research it, develop it, invest time, equipment, staff and money, test it, retest it, patent it, and find an avenue for distribution. It is your property, materially and intellectually. You’re willing to share the product and distribute it for the betterment of others but at the same time you need to begin to be reimbursed for all the costs incurred. In that way you can begin to develop the next product to improve more lives. And then along comes a potentate who chooses to take your product, without compensation, and give it away to others. How to squelch future discoveries in one fell swoop.
Here are the latest figures since January 20th at noontime to present. Just 106 days Cases 8,138,950 new cases in last two days 124,417. Deaths 312,597 new deaths in last two days 2,249.
This pandemic is a global problem and must be dealt with globally otherwise we will never be able to overcome it.
Yes I support waiving the patent provisions for COVID vaccines. We are still in the middle of a pandemic and the world is the stage of this disease and if we don't help to get it under control worldwide then we will always be challenged by variants and not getting it under control. Our own vaccine hesitancy is troubling enough without being a leader to help the world get this pandemic under control. NoHedges: Yes I did work with Veterans for much of my early career in human services. As a fellow veteran I went through VA services very soon after my own discharge from the military in early 1977. I spent 9 years working with combat vets and fellow veterans and have always been partial towards veteran's treatment. Sadly, our veterans give much and, even though there are a lot of organizations trying to offer help, it is not enough. Our VA system is largely full of old run down hospitals that has far exceeded their 50+ year old institutions and there are not enough personnel to take care of veteran's issues. I was in at the tail end of Vietnam. Combat tours were one year in length unless you volunteered for additional tours in-country. Since the Gulf War one could be called up for multiple in-country tours and this has aided in feeling estranged from civilian life, loss of relationships upon reentry, substance misuse, criminality related to drug use, PTSD, homelessness, suicide, health issues, service connected disabilities, etc. If you ever watched; "Band of Brothers" at the end of each show they interviewed actual World War 2 combat veterans and these gentlemen would usually begin to cry all these years later. They came home and began a life of going back to work or beginning a career, raising a family and moving on with their lives. It took that many years for them to feel some of the trauma they experienced and the horror of war. My God what a kick in the teeth that was for me. I cried watching them cry. The horror of war! No shit! The problem with Vietnam was it was a whole different experience of returning home for many of these veterans. They fought in a war that got minimal support back home, they returned to a country that was ungrateful for their service as we were not in the battle for the world and preventing one mad man from taking it over to; "What in the hell are we doing over there and why." Plus spitting on these guys and calling them nasty names after serving the country was definitely not a kind way to reincorporate these veterans back home. At least we can mouth the words and thank a veteran today but I still maintain that we are falling far short of taking care of their issues of getting on with their lives as a returning veteran and helping them to resolve their trauma and any other presenting issues. They never cease to remind me of the line in Apocalypse Now; the Horror, the Horror!
If the world health is really so dire then there is only one vote possible. If however the vaccinations serve to immensely line the pockets of all involved then a ‘no’ vote is appropriate.
It does matter to me, it's just part of the covid hoax so either way freedoms will be lost. https://www.henrymakow.com/2021/04/covid-passports-impose-chinese-communist.html?_ga=2.76132757.1871263858.1618241744-1499909449.1618241744
It sounds like the height of first world arrogance to whine about the sanctity of "intellectual property". The only way the world is going to combat this pandemic successfully is for the 'have' nations to share with the 'have not' nations.....up to AND including such intellectual property as the formulation and manufacture of vaccines. If half the world has no access to the Covid vaccine, then Covid will continue to mutate and those mutations will spread as quickly as the original virus did.
Have the companies repaid the US for the billions we were forced to “invest” in?
And stop saying young people don’t catch it or rarely die when they do that’s is absolutely false the virus is seeking an infecting the age group 18-22 yr old is up from 10% -20% of the 7 million infections 76% are under 65 an most of that 76% is aged 18-22 years of age so stop saying young ppl can’t get it that’s why there not taking it serious we have told them for over a year they won’t get it we fucked them cause now 18-22 yr olds there making up most of the infections bottom line is if your not healthy an a clean person your chance of infection are almost certain be clean eat food with nutrition for your body McDonalds taco hell BK Arby’s that’s all trash food it’s not even food there no nutrients in that food that’s not full of steroids an gmo’s gluten high fructose corn syrup all trash yet daily I see cars lined up around the block at all those places stop eating shit for food after you just took a shit without washing your hands would be a good place to start take vitamins test your blood sugar check your body’s ph level if your ph is acidic lower then 6 your more susceptible to infection as viruses an cancers live acidic environments alkaline righ they can’t thrive in this environment don’t buy Kroger brand water it’s garbage why it’s 1.99 for 24 bottles by avian it’s 8.99 for 6 bottles but there stated ph level is actually accurate an is one of 2 that are actually alkaline rich ph above 6.5 peoples un sanitary hygiene an what people eat are the 1st issues your inviting infection by not being clean an eating that trash for food I’ve have been around 3 confirmed cases of Covid standing shoulder to shoulder for 3 days with one guy b4 he found he had it an I have yet to contract it but 2 of my other co workers contracted from the same guy I was working with also 3of4 got sick an this is my 3rd time not catching it an being in a room with no mask with the virus literally I truly believe it’s cause I’m very clean not a germphobia but clean an I’m healthy I eat healthy organic food no snacks or trash ever I drink 14 bottles of alkaline rich water with vitamins daily only reason I can see why I’ve never caught it an I never will I’m that confident I taunt Covid out loud still haven’t caught it take care of yourself an everyone else’s filth won’t effect you it’s start with each of us being clean an healthy USA needs to address the unhealthy habits of the masses they wanna ban menthol cigs but they should ban McDonald’s too cause there food is just as harmful as a menthol smoke
This is not black and white issue. If I recall, Pfizer did not receive and public money to develop it’s vaccine, whereas J&J and Moderna did get USG money. While it seems appropriate that J&J and Moderna should very likely surrender some (all?) of their patent protection, that should not apply to Pfizer if it’s development did not use government funding. A different arrangement will need to be worked out for Pfizer
UPDATED: It is the right thing to do in order to get the pandemic squelched world wide before more lethal variants develop somewhere else in the world. The strain that is ravaging India has already been found active in six US states. The poorer countries of the world are not expecting to receive any vaccines until mid 2024. This conditional release of patent rights associated with the manufacture of these vaccines will enable others to manufacture the vaccine so long as the US also expedites the production of needed raw materials as promised and provides the expertise and tricks of the trade that will allow others to safely manufacture and distribute the vaccines. There should be due compensation to the patent holding companies dependent upon the level of US funding that directly supported the development - but not the treasure chest that they may have expected. Perhaps the manufacturers can enter into limited partnerships with other manufacturers around the globe to expedite production and delivery to meet the same production capacity possible with the release of intellectual property and expertise. Maybe this will motivate the manufacturers to temporarily expand vaccine production worldwide in less profitable limited partnerships to squash the pandemic everywhere soon enough to stop hazardous new variants from forming while still holding onto their patents. … … … UPDATE: Just watched last night’s Racheal Maddow’s show where she highlighted as issue that arose from the mailed weaponized Anthrax attacks which were occurring shortly after 911 and with such frequency that there was a fear that these attacks were the beginning of an expanding and coordinated effort. They ordered 12 million doses of the only antibiotic for Anthrax which the patent holder said would take 20 months to deliver- which was too long of a delay to treat many people infected should there be expanded attacks. George W. moved to relax patent rights and gained bipartisan approval because many other manufacturers with appropriate expertise and experience said they could meet the demand and more in less than two months and lower costs if they were legally permitted to do so. It took that threat for Bayer (the patent holder) to suddenly find the capacity needed to manufacture the doses needed in the same time frame and at a reduced cost. They had to eat some potential profits but kept their patent rights and were not able to keep 12 million Americans at potential risk just so they could be more profitable. … … … This is the same problem here except it is much bigger because it effects the world’s population and the potential to end this pandemic early enough to stop the evolution of more lethal strains which might ‘outwit’ the current vaccines - and to do so before some new novel virus introduces the world to the next pandemic. It seems the solution for vaccine manufactures is the same as it was for Bayer - find ways to partner with others to get the vaccine manufactured and distributed world wide well before the current 2024 estimated time line. Lose some profits, but keep your patent rights - just like Bayer had to.
They must be waved. If not we will never get this pandemic under control. There is to much travel to keep it contained. Plus millions of lives are at stake.