Global powers have inched closer to an agreement to waive patents for Covid-19 vaccines, a move that would allow for cheaper generic versions to be manufactured and distributed among developing nations faster.
A leaked document, seen by the Guardian, reveals details of a compromise struck between the United States, the European Union, India and South Africa that would end a deadlock over an intellectual property waiver, 18 months after the proposal was first taken to the World Trade Organization.
The document detailing the compromise position suggests the negotiated form of the waiver has veered substantially away from the initial proposal first raised by India and South Africa in October 2020, which sought to suspend patents for successful Covid vaccines, treatments and diagnostics – invented by pharmaceutical giants such as Pfizer and Moderna – for the duration of the pandemic.
The document details a tentative proposal that would still need final agreement from the four negotiators, as well as from all WTO member nations, to be passed.
If passed, the compromised version of the waiver will see only patents for Covid-19 vaccines suspended for either three or five years, and means that treatment and testing formulas will still be subject to intellectual property protections.
It would only apply to developing WTO member countries that exported less than 10% of world exports of Covid-19 vaccine doses in 2021, and for those countries would include ingredients and processes necessary for the vaccines’ manufacturing.
Additionally, it does not cover technology transfer and trade secrets – something that human rights and development advocates believe will slow down developing nations’ vaccine production.
The leaked draft of the agreement states that, if passed at the WTO, member nations will discuss extending the intellectual property waiver to testing and treatment technologies in six months’ time.
Because of the WTO’s consensus-based system, as opposed to a majority voting system, one dissenting vote can bring down a proposal.
More than 100 mostly lower and middle income nations initially supported the proposal put by India and South Africa.
The EU has been one of the last holdouts not to back the plan, while the US shifted its position in May to support waiving patents for vaccines only. Several wealthier nations that had not earlier expressed support for the waiver, including New Zealand and Australia, followed the US shift.
Earlier, the US Trade Representative Office spokesperson, Adam Hodge, said that informal discussions between the US, EU, India and South Africa had led to the compromise.
“The difficult and protracted process has resulted in a compromise outcome that offers the most promising path toward achieving a concrete and meaningful outcome,” Hodge said.
Human rights groups have cautiously welcomed news of the compromise but have expressed disappointment that the negotiated position does not include treatments and diagnostic technologies.
Australian Fair Trade & Investment Network convener, Dr Patricia Ranald, welcomed “the admission that WTO rules need to change”.
“But these are baby steps which still protect the interests of pharmaceutical companies rather than saving lives. Three million have died since the Omicron variant, and millions more will die unless the Australian and other governments insist on a full waiver for vaccines, tests and treatments,” Ranald said.
Amnesty International Australia’s Ry Atkinson said “this compromise is an acknowledgment that business as usual isn’t going to get us out of this crisis”. However, Atkinson said “the reality is that it [the negotiated proposal] doesn’t go far enough”.
“We need a waiver that includes technology transfers and treatments, as the co-sponsors of the original waiver intended. Governments advocating for anything less are selling the world short,” he said.
Last week, an open letter signed by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the actor Charlize Theron and the former British prime minister Gordon Brown singled out the UK, EU and Switzerland for continuing to block the waiver on lifting intellectual property rules.
About 4% of people in low-income countries have had two vaccine doses, according to Amnesty International.
The World Health Organization director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has previously labelled vaccine licensing rules and distribution limits a “catastrophic moral failure”.
Several pharmaceutical companies across the world which have expressed an interest in making Covid-19 vaccines have cited production permission as a barrier.
