WTO welcomes COVID shot patent sharing plan, but drugmakers don't

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The United States, the European Union, India and South Africa agreed on Tuesday on key elements for a waiver.

It now needs the backing of the 164 members of the WTO, which takes decisions based on consensus, so rejection by just one country could still block an accord. read more

"This is a major step forward," WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said after Wednesday's agreement was announced. "But we are not there yet. We have more work to do to ensure that we have the support of the entire WTO membership."

If approved, the agreement would mean countries could permit domestic manufacturers to produce vaccines without patent-holder consent for three or five years. But only developing countries accounting for less than 10% of global exports of COVID-19 shots in 2021 could do this.

That would appear to exclude China but clear India, which banned vaccine exports for much of 2021.

Global drugmakers in the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) said the move could undermine their ability to respond to future crises. ...