Corona crisis: WTO must finally lift patent protection
(Lausanne / Bern) (PPS) The WTO ministerial conference will take place in Geneva. It is high time that Switzerland gave up its destructive blockade, which has lasted for over a year, and the pharmaceutical manufacturers passed on their knowledge.
Next week the global fight against Covid-19 will take place in Geneva: While the fourth wave has Europe firmly under control, a study by the People’s Vaccine Alliance shows that Pfizer, Moderna and BioNtech together are using theirs to generate 65,000 US dollars per minute Earning mRNA vaccines, which are notably developed with generous public funds. These profits are correspondingly more scandalous, as a third dose of vaccine is already consumed, while in low-income countries just 2 percent of the population dies.
The focus of the WTO ministerial conference, which begins on November 30, is the temporary suspension of intellectual property rights for vaccines, tests and drugs to combat Covid-19 (the so-called «TRIPS waiver»). While the USA have at least pronounced themselves dying for a repeal of vaccines, Switzerland is one of the last countries to continue to resist vehemently.
The US stance is also inadequate, however, because while political attention is currently focused on vaccines, the scenario of unfair access to the treatment of Covid-19 is also emerging. Because they are expensive, patented and produced in insufficient quantities, these are confiscated from wealthy countries. The current examples of the anti-inflammatory drug Actemra from Roche and the antiviral drug molnupiravir from Merck, which are currently hardly available due to restrictive trading licenses in emerging countries, once again show the need for the TRIPS waiver. Access to wireless tests also remains unevenly distributed, which further delays the global fight against the pandemic.
It is just as significant as scandal that Switzerland, as the home state of pharmaceutical companies and their most important umbrella organization, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), is blocking the TRIPS exemption and thus placing the interests of its industry above the human right to health. The resistance of our country could lead to the failure of the ministerial conference and to billions of people for the medical means to fight against Covid-19. That is why Switzerland must finally accept the exception to the TRIPS agreement and Big Pharma must release its technologies for the production of vaccines, tests and drugs against Covid-19.
Isolda Agazzi, responsible for “Trade and Investment” Alliance Sud, isolda.agazzi @ alliancesud.ch
Patrick Durisch, Health Policy Expert, Public Eye, patrick.durisch @ publiceye.ch