Geneva, Switzerland headquartered World Trade Organization members will discuss expanding their decision to broaden intellectual property flexibilities for Covid-19 vaccines.
The group will meet at least three times in the coming months to discuss a proposal made at the 12th ministerial conference held in Geneva from 12-15 June, 2022. The proposal centered on a request to broaden flexibilities in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to include diagnostics and therapeutics in Covid-19 vaccine production. The deadline to decide whether to expand the scope of the decision is mid-December.
WTO members in favor of expanding the decision expressed frustration that the talks are not progressing more quickly to meet the deadline as several members maintain they still need more time for consultations.
India and South Africa are the original sponsors of a broad TRIPS waiver proposal that led to the compromise at the 12th ministerial conference.
Along with Egypt and Nigeria, they cited increased patent applications for therapeutics. They also noted that production of diagnostics is concentrated in high-income countries, resulting in scarcity and high prices for others.
Some members from developed countries were skeptical of the expansion. A few countries such as Mexico and South Korea cited possible options: Defining “diagnostics and therapeutics ” or creating a list of covered products.
