The breakthrough in international negotiations on waiving Intellectual Property on Covid-19 vaccines is not finding much support from public health voices, who are calling it a compromise that neglects treatments and diagnostics.

World Trade Organization’s Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala had, on Wednesday, welcomed the breakthrough among four WTO Members on the waiver of the Trade Related Intellectual Property (TRIPS) agreement for the production of vaccines against Covid. But it was with a note of caution.

The latest development was a step forward, said the DG, adding that the compromise resulted from “many long and difficult hours of negotiations. But we are not there yet. We have more work to do to ensure that we have the support of the entire WTO Membership”.

“While the agreement between the European Union, India, South Africa and the United States is an essential element to any final deal, ….not all the details of the compromise have been ironed out and that internal domestic consultations within the four members are still ongoing,” said a WTO note quoting her.  Moreover, she added that work needed to commence to broaden the discussions to include all 164 members of the WTO.

The proposal for a temporary IP waiver on Covid-19 tools was made by India and South Africa at the WTO in October 2020.

Unacceptable delays

But even as details on the latest negotiations began to trickle out, public health voices began expressing their discomfort with the new agreement.

Member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO) should work together “to ensure that any agreement tackles the current barriers to accessing all Covid medical tools, including treatments and diagnostics, and addresses patents and non-patent barriers effectively,” said a note from the humanitarian organisation, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

Going with the details available, the MSF said limiting the waiver to vaccines was geographically limited, and covered only patents while not addressing other intellectual property barriers, such as trade secrets, “which may cover critical information needed to facilitate manufacturing”.

Pointing out that delaying the decision on treatments was unacceptable, the note said “as many people will have no access to generic antivirals, and countries are paying high prices for access to lifesaving treatments like baricitinib due to patent monopolies that block more affordable generic versions.”

In India, the Campaign for Access to Medicines, Diagnostics and Devices-India (CAMD-India) had also written to Prime Minister Modi, urging him to instruct the Commerce Ministry to reject the consensus agreement.

Wrong signal

Meanwhile, the international pharmaceutical industry also expressed its unhappiness on the development.

“Biopharmaceutical companies reaffirm their position that weakening patents now when it is widely acknowledged that there are no longer supply constraints of Covid vaccines, sends the wrong signal,” said the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA).

“The TRIPS Waiver is not only the wrong solution, it is also an outdated proposal, that has been overtaken by events,” it added.Covid vaccine production from developing and developed country manufacturers touched 12 billion in a year of the first vaccine being authorized, said the note. “Today, the industry is able to produce over a billion vaccine each month. Covax is now fully meeting its commitments. Since the beginning of 2022, there has been broad consensus that the challenge now is how to get the vaccines into the arms of people who need them, rather than vaccine supply,” said the IFPMA.

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