U.S. to start talks with WTO over lifting COVID-19 vaccine patents

[PeteS in CA]

U.S. to start talks with WTO over lifting COVID-19 vaccine patents

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2021/05/03/United-States-start-coronavirus-vaccine-patent-talks-World-Trade-Organization/1691620027178/

May 3 (UPI) -- The Biden administration said it will begin talks this week with the World Trade Organization about lifting intellectual property rights for coronavirus vaccines as activists and foreign leaders urge the move for the benefit of poorer nations.

White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain told CBS's Face the Nation in an interview Sunday that Katherine Tai, the United States' top trade negotiator, will head to the WTO to open talks on "how we can get this vaccine more widely distributed, more widely licensed, more widely shared."

The announcement was made as pressure from activists, progressive politicians and foreign leaders mounts on the White House to support waiving pharmaceutical patents on vaccine production to allow poorer countries to make their own versions of the shot.

One of the things I worried about in LIEden having control over vaccines distribution in the US was that he'd @#$% it up. The J&J pause was probably significantly mishandled, but it wasn't a total @#$% up. This is closer to it. What pharmaceuticals company will willingly work with the US government if they are going to invest vast amounts of $$ and people-time into developing a product if the US government might take away that intellectual property because that product is so good?

Partnering with companies, lowering their risk while enabling those companies to do their best ______ was the genius of OWS and the broader Trump anti-Covid effort. This move by Biden threatens to kill that genius, for years or decades to come.

I have to admit that after Pfizer "leadership" bleeped over Trump for working with them, the possibility of LIEden bleeping Pfizer over does have some appeal for me.

[PeteS in CA]

Biden endorses state-sponsored theft from pharmaceutical companies

https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2021/05/06/biden-endorses-state-sponsored-theft-from-pharmaceutical-companies-n388076

My first reaction upon hearing this news was to conclude that there will never again be another Operation Warp Speed if this plan goes through. The American companies in question responded to requests from the Trump administration and basically dropped everything else they were doing to burn the midnight oil and come up with viable vaccines, two of them with staggeringly high efficacy rates, and do so in an unimaginably short period of time. They received significant financial help from the government to do it, it’s true, but that was an agreement that our Congress made. Pfizer and Moderna, along with the others, put in this work with the understanding that they would be able to profit from their labors on the back end.

Besides, some of these companies are already taking unprecedented, generous steps to create more doses faster. Pfizer struck a deal with Novartis in January to allow them to begin producing the revolutionary vaccines. Moderna publicly pledged in December that they would not fully enforce their patents until the pandemic was under control and would work with other companies to maximize production.

Killing the golden-egg-laying goose won't yield more eggs. It will end the production of golden eggs.

[PeteS in CA]

Patents are Not the Problem!

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2021/05/ip-is-not-the-constraint.html

For the last year and a half I have been shouting from the rooftops, “invest in capacity, build more factories, shore up the supply lines, spend billions to save trillions.” Fortunately, some boffins in the Biden administration have found a better way, “the US supports the waiver of IP protections on COVID-19 vaccines to help end the pandemic.”
Waive IP protections. So simple. Why didn’t I think of that???

Patents are not the problem. All of the vaccine manufacturers are trying to increase supply as quickly as possible. Billions of doses are being produced–more than ever before in the history of the world. Licenses are widely available. AstraZeneca have licensed their vaccine for production with manufactures around the world, including in India, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, China and South Africa. J&J’s vaccine has been licensed for production by multiple firms in the United States as well as with firms in Spain, South Africa and France. Sputnik has been licensed for production by firms in India, China, South Korea, Brazil and pending EMA approval with firms in Germany and France. Sinopharm has been licensed in the UAE, Egypt and Bangladesh. Novavax has licensed its vaccine for production in South Korea, India, and Japan and it is desperate to find other licensees but technology transfer isn’t easy and there are limited supplies of raw materials:
...
... The mRNA technology is new and has never before been used to produce at scale. Pfizer and Moderna had to build factories and distribution systems from scratch. There are no mRNA factories idling on the sidelines. If there were, Moderna or Pfizer would be happy to license since they are producing in their own factories 24 hours a day, seven days a week (monopolies restrict supply, remember?). Why do you think China hasn’t yet produced an mRNA vaccine? Hint: it isn’t fear about violating IP. Moreover, even Moderna and Pfizer don’t yet fully understand their production technology, they are learning by doing every single day. Moderna has said that they won’t enforce their patents during the pandemic but no one has stepped up to produce because no one else can.

[DB]

Just more socialism.

It always leads to the same place but people are just sure it will work this time...

[DefiantMassRINO]

Let China, Russia, and India fork over the rights to their vaccines.

Where the fudge is the World Health Organization?  If the U.N. and its agencies are so freaking wonderful, why aren't they stepping up?

Why didn't the Indian government plan for this?  They knew they have over a billion people and they've had a year to get their stuff together.

[DB]

Let China, Russia, and India fork over the rights to their vaccines.

Where the fudge is the World Health Organization?  If the U.N. and its agencies are so freaking wonderful, why aren't they stepping up?

Why didn't the Indian government plan for this?  They knew they have over a billion people and they've had a year to get their stuff together.

I don't believe the Chinese "vaccine" worked at all. Don't know anything about the Russian go at it.

[PeteS in CA]

I haven't seen statements from Pfizer or Moderna about this, but this is from Novavax, who may apply for EUA from the US fairly soon:

Novavax Statement in Opposition to the WTO TRIPS Waiver

https://ir.novavax.com/news-releases/news-release-details/novavax-statement-opposition-wto-trips-waiver

Novavax is committed to accelerating equitable access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines, particularly in countries where vaccination rates are low. On May 6, 2021 we again demonstrated this commitment through the finalization of an advance purchase agreement with Gavi, which in conjunction with our partner Serum Institute of India, will supply a cumulative 1.1 billion doses of our recombinant protein-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate to the COVAX Facility. This means actual shots in arms for millions of people around the globe in low, middle, and high-income countries based on principles of equitable access. The WTO TRIPS waiver and similar proposals to weaken intellectual property protection would not achieve equitable vaccine access, and instead has the very real potential to undermine Novavax’ ability to fulfill our commitment.

The ability to deliver vaccines relies upon access to limited raw materials and consumables; strong partnerships with capable manufacturers; and free movement of supplies and vaccines between countries. A TRIPS waiver could further constrain resources by diverting them to entities incapable of manufacturing safe and effective vaccines in the near term. A TRIPS waiver could also undermine existing partnerships and would not promote timely capacity-building. Even under the best circumstances, it can take years to stand up the manufacturing capabilities required to safely produce vaccines. A TRIPS waiver could increase national barriers to the free flow of materials and vaccine doses, threatening the stability and integrity of the global supply chain. Furthermore, a TRIPS waiver could contribute to the proliferation of counterfeits throughout the world, undermining the safety of the entire vaccine supply.

[PeteS in CA]

German Chancellor Merkel opposes Biden's proposed patent waiver for COVID-19 vaccines

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/merkel-opposes-patent-waiver-covid-vaccines

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has come out in opposition to a U.S. proposal to waive patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines to aid poor countries.

A spokeswoman for Merkel said that waiving patents would cause “severe complications” for producing vaccines. “The limiting factor for the production of vaccines are manufacturing capacities and high quality standards, not the patents. The protection of intellectual property is a source of innovation and this has to remain so in the future,” the spokeswoman said.

Merkel is the first major leader to oppose patent waivers since President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday that he supported the idea.

Germany is the home to BioNTech, a company that partnered with Pfizer to produce an mRNA vaccine for COVID-19. Both companies have come out in opposition to patent waivers.
...
Thus far, French President Emmanuel Macron is the only leader to express unequivocal support for the Biden proposal, saying on Thursday that he was “absolutely in favor” of the idea.

Maybe the CEO of Sanofi Pasteur needs to have a chat with Macron, both on what such a government theft of patents would do generally and also to point out that they will be partnering with Moderna to produce Moderna's vaccine. And partnering with J&J to produce J&J's vaccine. And in Phase 2 testing for Sanofi's own recombinant-protein technology vaccine. And in Phase 1/2 testing of Translate Bio's mRNA vaccine.

Patents are not obstructing Covid vaccine production. Specialized production facility capacity and specialized equipment and materials are, and a government theft of patents would worsen those bottlenecks.

[PeteS in CA]

Biden COVID-19 vaccine patent waiver hopes will run into manufacturing reality

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/biden-waiver-hopes-manufacturing-reality

The process of manufacturing viral vector and whole virus vaccines presents a challenge to President Joe Biden’s plans to ramp up production by waiving patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines.

Biden floated the idea last Wednesday, angering pharmaceutical companies in the process. Supporters of the proposal believe it would remove a major obstacle to letting the developing world manufacture generic versions of vaccines.

But the impediment may not be intellectual property rights but rather a lack of facilities and expertise.

“There are not that many places that are fully operational and have the human resources that are qualified to operate this kind of technology,” said professor Amine Kamen, the Canada research chairman in bioprocessing of viral vaccines at McGill University.
...
“You want to put the process on an existing facility rather than building a facility from scratch,” said Zoltan Kis, a chemical engineer at the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Hub at Imperial College London. “Normally, without a pandemic, it would take about two years before [you are making vaccines]. In the pandemic … it could take six months to a year, and that is being optimistic. It could easily take over a year.”

This article focuses on viral vector vaccines, which have been around for a while. Thus that "optimistic" "six months to a year" is for a somewhat mature technology. Moderna's and Pfizer's mRNA vaccines are literally the first and second vaccines of that technology to be approved and brought into production. IOW, the manufacturing base for mRNA vaccines has only been in development for a year or so. Thus, converting pharmaceuticals facilities from producing whatever to producing an mRNA vaccine could take a year or more.

The bottom line is that were AZ's, J&J's, Moderna's, and Pfizer's patents stolen tomorrow, the consequent increased production would at best start deliveries in a year, plus or minus a couple of months. That ASSumes necessary equipment, production materials, and production miscellanies are not bottlenecks, which is probably ridiculously optimistic. When AZ, J&J, Moderna, and Pfizer can sell more of their product than they can possibly produce, they are very willing to license production of their product, and have, very liberally.

One of the hallmarks of, a key to understanding, LIEden's MALAdministration, is to realize that its leaders are the most ignorant, least competent, of their kind in a century or more of US history (maybe Harding's or Grant's peeps were worse). When it comes to the nuts and bolts of project planning and product manufacturing, LIEden & Crew are willfully and woefully clue free.