[CTC] US Seeks TRIPS Expansion Delay

[Arthur Stamoulis]

Two articles below...


Washington Trade Daily
Volume 31, Number 242 Wednesday, December 7, 2022
 
US Seeks TRIPS Expansion Delay
 
Geneva – The United States called yesterday for extending the deadline for expanding the World
Trade Organization’s 12th ministerial conference decision on the TRIPS agreement to cover the
production and supply of COVID-19 tests and drugs beyond December 17, while many developing
countries said a decision is needed by that date.
 
Washington supported the MC12 decision to cover COVID-19 vaccines – a position that helped
bring WTO members to a consensus.
 
But yesterday the United States, European Union and China, among other industrialized
countries, called for extending the December 17 deadline so that more discussions and consultations at
various levels can take place. They did not propose a new deadline.
 
The 65 co-sponsors of the original TRIPS waiver called for sticking to the deadline to extend the
TRIPS agreement to the production and supply of COVID-19 therapeutics and diagnostics.
 
Switzerland was alone in outright opposing the TRIPS decision to diagnostics and therapeutics,
arguing there is no need to do so at this juncture, said people who attended the meeting informal TRIPS
Council meeting yesterday.
 
US Wants More Information
 
At a green room meeting convened by WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala with
several countries before the informal TRIPS Council meeting yesterday, Deputy US Trade
Representative Maria Pagan called for an extension to allow for further discussion. She said USTR is
asking the International Trade Commission to launch an investigation into COVID-19 diagnostics and
therapeutics and provide information on market dynamics to help inform the discussion around supply
and demand, price points, the relationship between testing and treating, and production and access.
 
The European Union apparently also suggested at the green room meeting the deadline should
be extended, while Brazil suggested a short extension of the deadline.
 
Canada apparently proposed extending the deadline until the 13th ministerial conference, while
Singapore said it would not be wise to extend it till the next ministerial meeting as it could then become
a bargaining chip for the proponents, said people familiar with the green room discussions.
 
Mexico, Taipei and Thailand among others also supported the need for extending the deadline
without indicating any timeframe at the green room meeting, said people who asked not to be quoted.
 
Other Countries Want Decision
 
Those seeking a decision by December 17 at the green room include South Africa, India,
Nigeria, Bangladesh, Argentina and Sri Lanka among others. They circulated a draft decision that
stated unambiguously that “the MC 12 Decision on the TRIPS agreement is extended mutatis mutandis
for the production and supply of COVID-19 therapeutics and diagnostics.”
 
More importantly, in line with paragraph six of the TRIPS Agreement on vaccines, the
proponents said “an eligible Member may apply the provisions of this Therapeutics and Diagnostics
Decision until five years from the date of this Decision. Any extension of the MC 12 Decision on the
TRIPS Agreement pursuant to paragraph 6 shall apply to this Decision as well.”
 
Hours before the beginning of the informal WTO’s TRIPS Council meeting, USTR issued a
statement announcing its support for a delay and that the ITC will undertake a probe.
 
In the statement, USTR Katherine Tai said that “over the past five months, USTR officials held
robust and constructive consultations with Congress, government experts, a wide range of stakeholders,
multilateral institutions, and WTO members.”
 
Despite those discussion, “real questions remain on a range of issues, and the additional time,
coupled with information from the USITC, will help the world make a more informed decision on
whether extending the Ministerial Decision to COVID-19 therapeutics and diagnostics would result in
increased access to those products,” Ms. Tai said.
 
At the informal TRIPS Council meeting, several other industrialized countries echoed the same
positions as they did at the green room meeting, said people who asked not to be quoted.
 
The EU said it is open to advancing the discussions by addressing issues raised during the
discussions on the definition of COVID-19 therapeutics and diagnostics. The EU said a paper issued by
Taiwan before the meeting could serve a useful purpose.
 
China apparently stressed that considering the divergent views expressed by members and the
limited time left before December 17, the extension of the deadline with a clearer way forward is the
most pragmatic solution. It also signaled flexibility to consider to the length of the extension.
India said members made strenuous efforts to achieve paragraph 8 of the Ministerial Decision,
which provided a clear deadline for members to decide on the extension of the decision to therapeutics
and diagnostics.
 
In this context, said India, the proposed General Council decision provides members with the
opportunity to explicitly state whether they agree to the extension of the decision to therapeutics and
diagnostics or whether they do not agree to the extension.
 
On behalf of the African Group, Tanzania said that diagnostics and therapeutics are central in
saving lives as vaccination alone reduces the risk of mortality but does not in any way prevent
transmissions or infections.
 
ITC Investigation
 
The ITC investigation will look at issues like:
! an overview of the products, focusing on WHO-approved COVID-19 diagnostics and
therapeutics, including key components, the production process, intellectual property protections, and a
description of the supply chain (including the level of diversification in the supply chain);
! information on the global manufacturing industry for these products, including
information on key producing countries, major firms, and production data, if available;
! information on the global market for COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics, including
information on demand and, to the extent practicable, an assessment of where unmet demand exists for
key products and contributing factors; market segmentation; and supply accumulation and distribution;
! data and information on global trade in COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics, if
available, or if not, data and information on global trade in diagnostics and therapeutics generally; and
! a brief overview/background of the relevant aspects of the TRIPS Agreement and the
United Nations (UN) Medicine Patent Pool (MPP) and a listing of countries seeking to use the
Ministerial Decision and those utilizing access to COVID-19 medicines under the MPP.
 
 

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/12/06/heartbreaking-and-pathetic-us-obstructs-patent-waiver-covid-tests-and-treatments?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1670422600 <https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/12/06/heartbreaking-and-pathetic-us-obstructs-patent-waiver-covid-tests-and-treatments?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1670422600>

'Heartbreaking' and 'Pathetic': US Obstructs Patent Waiver for Covid Tests and Treatments

"There have been at least 290,000 deaths from Covid-19 since the WTO punted on the question of global access to tests and treatments back in June," said one advocate. "How many more need to die before the U.S. joins the right side of history?"



Kenny Stancil <https://www.commondreams.org/author/kenny-stancil>December 6, 2022
Global health campaigners denounced U.S. President Joe Biden's administration for refusing to support a temporary suspension of patents for Covid-19 tests and treatments this year, a move that further delays the possibility of securing a World Trade Organization intellectual property waiver aimed at increasing access to lifesaving medical tools in developing nations.

In a statement <https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/press-releases/2022/december/us-support-extension-deadline-wto-trips-ministerial-decision-requests-usitc-investigation-provide-0?link_id=1&can_id=75ac2e05a95be8abf80df70bdac1c9ea&source=email-40-civil-society-groups-urge-action-on-covid-tests-treatments-2&email_referrer=email_1758845&email_subject=statement-on-ustrs-covid-test-and-treatment-announcement> released on Tuesday morning, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said that "over the past five months, USTR officials held robust and constructive consultations with Congress, government experts, a wide range of stakeholders, multilateral institutions, and WTO members."

Tai continued:

Real questions remain on a range of issues, and the additional time, coupled with information from the USITC [United States International Trade Commission], will help the world make a more informed decision on whether extending the ministerial decision to Covid-19 therapeutics and diagnostics would result in increased access to those products. Transparency is critical and USTR will continue to consult with Congress, stakeholders, and others as we continue working to end the pandemic and support the global economic recovery.

As Bloomberg reported <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-05/us-won-t-back-2022-patent-waivers-for-covid-tests-and-treatments?leadSource=uverify%20wall>, investigations of the sort that Tai wants the USITC to pursue "can take nine months to a year to complete," pushing the prospects for a comprehensive waiver of the WTO's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) well into 2023 or beyond.

Dr. Mohga Kamal-Yanni, policy co-lead for the People's Vaccine Alliance, said <https://peoplesvaccine.org/resources/media-releases/pathetic-for-the-us-to-kick-wto-covid-test-and-treatment-deal-into-the-long-grass-campaigners-say/> in response that "it is heartbreaking to see the Biden administration succumb to pressure from pharmaceutical company lobbyists and their henchmen in Congress."

"This moment of weakness will cost countless lives in low- and middle-income countries, leading to continued economic devastation," said Kamal-Yanni, "while a handful of pharmaceutical CEOs and shareholders will get even richer."

"The U.S. has had more than two years to meaningfully engage in WTO negotiations over access to lifesaving tests and treatments," she added. "Kicking the issue further into the long grass, just as the negotiating deadline approaches, is pathetic."

This sentiment was echoed by Arthur Stamoulis, executive director of the Trade Justice Education Fund.

"There have been at least 290,000 deaths from Covid-19 since the WTO punted on the question of global access to tests and treatments back in June," said <https://tradejusticeedfund.org/statement-on-the-biden-administrations-support-for-extending-deadline-on-covid-test-treatment-access/> Stamoulis. "How many more need to die before the U.S. joins the right side of history?"

"We're in the third year of the pandemic and billions of people worldwide still don't have access to Covid tests, vaccines, and medicines," Stamoulis continued.

Large swaths of the Global South have been deprived <https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/08/26/global-survey-details-how-poor-nations-have-been-abandoned-during-covid-response> of lifesaving <https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(22)00320-6/fulltext> Covid-19 medical tools and remain completely unprotected, with less than 25% <https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations> of people in low-income countries having received at least one vaccine dose to date.

Experts have long argued <https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/04/13/rich-nations-big-pharma-still-blocking-early-exit-pandemic-experts> that pausing enforcement of the corporate-friendly TRIPS Agreement for the duration of the pandemic would remove the intellectual property barriers standing in the way of increased generic manufacturing. However, in June, Big Pharma-aligned policymakers—most of them from highly vaccinated rich countries—defeated <https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/06/17/after-wto-failure-nations-urged-outright-defy-pharma-patent-rules-fight-covid> a popular proposal to waive coronavirus-related patents to boost the global supply of jabs, diagnostics, and therapeutics.

Instead, the WTO, which operates on the consensus of its 164 members, adopted a watered-down alternative pertaining only to vaccines—described <https://www.citizen.org/news/cso-statements-in-response-to-shameful-result-on-intellectual-property-and-covid-at-12th-wto-ministerial/> by critics as worse than the status quo—and vowed to decide whether to extend the decision to cover tests and treatments within six months. The Biden White House's new demand for a delay—in which they joined the European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Switzerland—comes just days before the December 17 deadline.

As Knowledge Ecology International director James Love pointed out on social media, the U.S. government blocked the proposed TRIPS waiver for tests and treatments after telling the World Health Organization that it is opposed to including intellectual property flexibilities in an emerging WHO pandemic treaty "because that's a conversation for the WTO."

Meanwhile, the need <https://149754478.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/EXPANDING-GLOBAL-ACCESS-TO-COVID-TESTS-TREATMENTS_102822.pdf> for improved access to tests and treatments is particularly acute in poor countries, given the ongoing severity of global vaccine apartheid.

The WHO estimates <https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/act-accelerator-facilitation-council-working-group-report-on-diagnostics-and-therapeutics> that just one in every 50 tests is administered in low- and middle-income nations home to 84% of the global population. While publicly available data on treatment access is sparse, a recent analysis from Oxfam and the People's Vaccine Alliance shows <https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/just-quarter-pfizers-covid-19-treatment-orders-will-go-developing-countries> that just a quarter of Pfizer's Paxlovid pill <https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/04/22/who-warns-poor-nations-could-be-pushed-end-queue-pfizer-covid-pill> orders are destined for developing countries.

Pfizer's licensing agreement <https://medicinespatentpool.org/news-publications-post/pfizer-and-the-medicines-patent-pool-mpp-sign-licensing-agreement-for-covid-19-oral-antiviral-treatment-candidate-to-expand-access-in-low-and-middle-income-countries> with the United Nations-backed Medicines Patent Pool enables other drugmakers to produce its pill for generic consumption in just 95 countries representing 53% of the global population. As a result, excluded <https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/11/16/far-enough-pfizers-covid-drug-license-excludes-almost-half-global-population> countries, many of which are not wealthy, may be forced <https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/just-quarter-pfizers-covid-19-treatment-orders-will-go-developing-countries> to pay $250 per course rather than $25.

Globally, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has caused more than 15 million <https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/05/05/who-says-pandemic-has-killed-15-million-people-nearly-3-times-more-reported> deaths directly and indirectly, and the disease alone continues to kill roughly 1,500 people per day <https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/world/covid-cases.html>.

The profoundly inequitable allocation of medicines—fueled by high-income nations snatching up a disproportionate share of vaccines, tests, and treatments and pharmaceutical corporations refusing to share knowledge and technology—has exacerbated avoidable suffering <https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/03/28/covid-19-vaccine-apartheid-exacerbating-global-inequalities-un>. Artificially imposed scarcity and uneven distribution also enables the coronavirus to continue circulating and mutating, increasing <https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/09/23/blood-your-hands-if-global-poor-hit-covid-wave-who-official-tells-rich-nations> the likelihood of a vaccine-resistant variant emerging.

A recent investigation revealed <https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/11/10/outrage-investigation-shows-how-big-pharma-snuffed-out-vaccine-patent-waiver> the extent to which Big Pharma has lobbied against a robust intellectual property waiver for Covid-19 jabs, diagnostics, and therapeutics—and worsened deadly inequality <https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/03/03/after-two-years-covid-report-finds-pandemic-made-far-deadlier-greed> in the process.

Tai's "call for 'more information' cannot be an excuse for inaction," Stamoulis said Tuesday. "While pharmaceutical monopolies make billions, people are still dying, others are getting long Covid, the economy is suffering, and new variants remain a constant threat."

"It's long past time," he added, "for the Biden administration to support the modest changes to WTO pharmaceutical monopoly protections standing in the way of Covid test and treatment access around the world."






Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826




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