Discussion on the Exemption from the Obligation to Protect Intellectual Property in the WTO

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May 11, 2022
Japan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association
Chairman: Yasushi Okada

On May 3, 2022, the WTO Secretariat submitted to the TRIPS Council a document on the results of informal discussions by the European Union, India, South Africa and the United States on the exemption of countries from intellectual property protection obligations (TRIPS Weber) with respect to COVID-19. and member companies.

COVID-19 vaccine production by pharmaceutical companies in developing and developed countries reached 12 billion doses within one year after the first vaccine was approved, and currently more than 1 billion doses of vaccine can be produced each month. The problem of production shortages has been solved thanks to unprecedented cooperation involving many companies from developed and developing countries. This cooperation to develop and expand production of vaccines is based on the premise of international intellectual property protection.
The TRIPS Weber will not enable the expansion of vaccine production, as there are many technical issues to be resolved, including production facilities, raw material procurement, and know-how.
The TRIPS Weber was proposed as a way to encourage vaccine production in 2020, when the COVID-19 vaccine was not yet approved. However, it is already clear, as noted above, that intellectual property is not a barrier to accessing the COVID-19 vaccine, and that the TRIPS Weber is the wrong solution to the COVID-19 vaccine production shortfall, and is also untimely and unnecessary given that sufficient production has been obtained. It is clear that it is an untimely and unnecessary solution in the current situation.

The current challenge is not the lack of vaccine production, but how to get vaccines to those who need them. Now that the problem of production shortages has been solved, the TRIPS Weber proposal should be abandoned and the discussion should focus on improving the infrastructure of pharmaceutical administration, distribution, medical personnel, etc., which are the issues to deliver vaccines to those who need them.

We, the pharmaceutical industry, will continue to do our utmost to bring the new coronavirus infection under control as soon as possible and save as many lives as possible, in close cooperation with the government agencies and other concerned parties in each country.

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