Thread by @MMKavanagh

The #TRIPSWaiver: lots of misunderstanding & mis-information on WTO & law.
A thread on why it's:
-not going to harm innovation
-not radical
- harmful to pretend it is
-not going to touch US pharma patents
-(as we all said) just 1 piece of #CovidVaccine access puzzle
🧵1/14

https://twitter.com/AmbassadorTai/status/1390021205974003720

1)Those arguing TRIPS waiver will undermine the innovation that got us #COVIDVaccines are asking us to believe start-ups (Moderna, BioNTech) and universities (Oxford, UPenn) are going to stop taking public money to develop & trial breakthrough vaccines (!?) or 2/12

or that major pharma companies are going to refuse to commercialize technologies with huge potential rewards ($billions from massive orders) that have largely been de-risked by public + philanthropic efforts if they are only promised monopolies in US, EU and other HICs… 3/14

These truly strain credulity. What folks are actually worried about is that the #CovidVaccine effort is evidence of how effectively direct public funding can drive pharmaceutical innovation and could be used far more widely. IP was not the key in this pandemic context...4/14

2) The TRIPS waiver is not radical. If enacted it would simply give countries back the power to allow companies within their borders to make COVID vaccines (& treatments & diagnostics) without violating WTO rules, even if originator companies dont agree to share their tech 5/14

Waiver simply means if companies figure out how to make vaccines, they can invest in new production lines without threat of being sued or prosecuted. Countries can coordinate to produce and export. When they do, they wont face threats and sanctions from other WTO members. 6/12

That’s it. No company has patents canceled, no country compelled to not grant COVID-19 patents if they want to. It’s actually very conservative idea sovereign countries should not be constrained to enforce intl rules when they threaten health of populations in a pandemic. 7/14

3) But IP maximalists are being very smart—by framing this ultimately conservative idea as radical they seek to keep the Overton window closed. But this is dangerous…. 8/12

COVID-19 should be teaching us that our global governance and trading rules are not helping us get out of this pandemic, incentivizing practices like vaccine nationalism that are prolonging it and costing many lives, and therefore need major reform. But instead 9/12

too much political energy goes to push for temporary waiver that should be no-brainer. Dangerous where it has distracted from these big-picture shifts we need—like asking why TRIPS doesn’t automatically exempt pandemic-related health products like HIV drugs & #COVIDVaccines 10/14

4) In US little changes w/TRIPS waiver. Moderna, Pfizer, J&J, AZ all keep US patents. Bidn admin made zero moves on this. Same in Europe. No country is compelled to waive patents, its an option if waiver agreed. Companies just dont want India or SAfrica to have the option. 11/14

5)Argument against seem to be "But the TRIPS waiver wont solve all the problems." Of course, this is ONE piece of the puzzle as @MadhaviSunder and I wrote
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…

SO YES #TRIPS waiver is start not end. Democratizing production is still key. @POTUS can lead, push companies to share publicly-funded tech and fund rapid expansion of production in Africa, Asia & LatAm.
It’s good diplomacy and good public health.
foreignpolicy.com/2021/03/01/to-…
/fin

+1: YES TRIPS waiver matters. Lots of smart LMIC companies & scientists around the world that can act even without tech transfer--how long will it take? Nobody is saying publicly how far they've progressed, but Pfizer, Moderna, J&J don't have the lock on knowledge on these tech