Agreement on Exemptions from Intellectual Property Protection Obligations (TRIPS Waivers) at the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference
June 20, 2022
Japan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association
Chairman Yasushi Okada
The Japan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (JPMA) expresses its deep disappointment regarding the TRIPS waiver for COVID-19 vaccines agreed upon at the 12th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference (MC-12) held in Geneva on June 17, 2022.The MC-12 agreement sends a false message to people around the world that intellectual property rights do not facilitate the safer and faster delivery of new medical technologies to patients, but rather act as a barrier to pandemic response efforts.
Intellectual property rights have supported the development and scaled-up production of safe and effective vaccines at an unprecedented pace, enabling the production of 13.9 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to date.The intellectual property rights framework has provided the foundation for establishing more than 380 voluntary partnerships for COVID-19 vaccines (88% of which involve technology transfer) in record time *1.We believe that the TRIPS waiver is an agreement that fails to recognize the role intellectual property rights have played and, furthermore, offers no effective solutions, and that it could have serious implications for innovation and global health security.In other words, the intellectual property rights framework described above has provided solutions for addressing COVID-19 and has facilitated an unprecedented number of partnerships,voluntary licensing, and knowledge-sharing carried out during this pandemic; however, the TRIPS waiver would effectively dismantle that very framework and have negative repercussions for similar frameworks in the future.
Furthermore, given that sufficient vaccine production capacity has now been achieved, it is clear that the TRIPS waiver is an untimely and unnecessary solution; rather, the challenges that countries must address are improving various trade barriers—such as export controls—as well as inadequate infrastructure in areas like regulatory affairs, distribution, and healthcare personnel, in order to deliver vaccines to those who need them.It can be said that this MC-12 agreement sends the wrong message not only to the pharmaceutical industry but to all sectors responsible for innovation.
Regardless of this MC-12 agreement, the pharmaceutical industry remains committed to working with full force—in close collaboration with government agencies and all relevant stakeholders—to bring the COVID-19 pandemic to an end as soon as possible and save as many lives as possible.