The first World Trade Organization meeting to discuss a draft agreement to temporarily waive intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines went “very well”, its chair said on May 6.
The head of the World Trade Organization told Reuters on April 14 that negotiations on an intellectual property deal for COVID-19 vaccines were ongoing between the four parties, saying they were seeking to agree on the proposal’s final terms.
The United States, European Union, India and South Africa reached a consensus on key elements of a long-sought intellectual property waiver for COVID-19 vaccines, according to a proposed text reviewed by Reuters.
The United States will continue to press for a waiver of intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines and treatments even as it and other Group of Seven rich nations sharply expand donations of vaccines to poorer countries.
Manufacturing capacity and ingredients shortages are the main bottlenecks to expanding Covid-19 vaccine production, several global drug groups said on March 9, not patents that some critics are demanding be removed.
Anjum Swaroop, Vice President and Head – Intellectual Property, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, addresses the intellectual property issues healthcare companies are facing in the time of Covid-19.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Merck & Co. Inc.’s bid to revive a $2.54 billion jury verdict the company won against rival drugmaker Gilead Sciences Inc. for infringing a patent in a dispute over a blockbuster hepatitis C treatment.
Netherlands-based Mylan is buying the intellectual property and commercialization rights to Aspen Pharmacare’s thrombosis business in Europe for €641.9 million ($757.3 million).
The Renopharma saga for GlaxoSmithKline is one step closer to being settled in court. A Chinese scientist living abroad who has been accused of accepting stolen intellectual property to benefit a pharma startup in China has been extradited to the United States.
Netherlands-based Pharming Group N.V. denied any involvement in a potential theft of intellectual property belonging to CSL Behring from Joseph Chiao, who recently joined Pharming as medical director.