India, Pakistan, South Africa, and five other countries have jointly proposed a five-year global patent waiver for Covid-19 diagnostics and therapeutics, according to a report by The Economic Times (ET). The submission to the World Trade Organization (WTO) was made on behalf of 65 members on Monday. In the submission, the members emphasised the ongoing importance of diagnostics and therapeutics in the comprehensive fight against the pandemic.
The submission aims to address intellectual property barriers, promote production, and enhance accessibility to critical Covid-19 tools. This would go a long way in enabling developing countries to expand and diversify production and increase accessibility without intellectual property (IP) barriers.
During the G20 Summit in India, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal had also urged members to conduct timely discussions on the extension of patent waivers regarding the production and supply of Covid-19 diagnostics and therapeutics. Talks on therapeutic and diagnostics were raised by both India and South Africa during the G20 meets, under the purview of this waiver.
The request follows the US’ decision not to take a stance on extending the waiver, which currently applies only to Covid-19 vaccines. According to a report on Bloomberg, US President Biden reportedly stated that the administration needed more information on the matter, making it unlikely for the group to reach a consensus by the December 17 deadline. Moreover, European Union’s 27 members, the UK, Singapore, Switzerland, Japan and South Korea, all have opposed the waiver, claiming that there was not enough evidence to show IP rights were hampering the supply of treatments and tests of Covid-19.
