Following up on my last post, here are two more good exchanges between members of the House Ways and Means committee and U.S. Trade Rep. Katherine Tai on vaccine production/TRIPS waiver:
Congressman Wenstrup:
... So I'm concerned about the intellectual property rights and, but at the same time sharing the goal of getting everyone vaccinated. And I worry that a waiver could do more harm than good. And, you know, Pfizer, for example, recently said that their vaccine utilizes 280 different materials supplied from 19 different countries, and an IP waiver could severely disrupt those supply chains to them, if others could just get it because they're producing basically a generic. And I'm worried about unlicensed producers who may not be able to replicate with the same safety and quality, which really, if they say oh this is the Pfizer vaccine that we're making here now, and the quality is not good and it's not working or there's some kind of contamination or whatever the case may be, it's really going to increase vaccine hesitancy, around the world. And I worry that, you know, waiver could could lead to innovators being less likely to engage in public private partnerships, what we saw with Operation Warp Speed so successfully. And that would leave us less, I think, a little more exposed and unprepared for the next pandemic, which probably will happen.
So I think we have to consider the future safety and health security, not only of Americans, but maintain those protections for good reasons for health reasons, safety reasons, and it's important as we move forward with further vaccines, and especially with this vaccine.
I know many of my colleagues are raising the issue about this, and asking about it, so I'll somewhat leave it there, but I do want to question whether there's any analysis being done by USTR about the potential impact of waiving IP rules, and what effect that may have on the supply of vaccines, and how you can ensure that any agreement to weaken the IP rules will not have a disastrous effect somewhere else where we don't have the same safety margins, we don't have the same oversight, regulatory effects, you know, so how do we assure that it's the same capabilities and we have a product that's capable of quality, safe, and one thing that crosses my mind is, you know, if countries are in need, if they could make it very simple for a company like Pfizer to manufacture in their country, that may be a solution rather than a waiver, and then, we would be, of course, hoping, they would want to make sure that it's the same quality and oversight.
Ambassador Tai:
Congressman, thank you so much for your comments and your engagement here. I appreciate you raising your concerns about unintended consequences and you're very very clear affirmation that, as a doctor, you care, you care about saving lives, and saving lives outside of our borders. It really is going to help us save lives inside of our borders because we are all interconnected and this virus knows no borders, right.
So, I want to say this. I have also heard the concerns of industry and directly from the manufacturers themselves, and I take them very seriously. I think that because a possible waiver of intellectual property protections at the WTO could lead to negative consequences or unintended consequences, is actually a reason for us to engage at the WTO. I think that the dynamic that had developed in Geneva, prior to last week, with us leaning in to say let's all roll up our sleeves and talk about this and figure out a solution, was that you had WTO members like ourselves sitting on the sidelines, saying, well, we're not quite sure that, you know we need to know more about the waiver, are there unintended consequences, and then factors leading to complete paralysis. I don't think that's tenable and I don't think that's the role that the United States should play in the world. I think that we should be part of the solution, always.
And so I want to say there is room to have these conversations and I also want to urge industry, the manufacturers, don't be so nervous and afraid about what this means. This is actually an opportunity for them to lean in and build on the incredible work that they've done in research and development and developing these vaccines, to really also becoming part of the solution. And I've invited them to seize this opportunity for leadership, to join us. There is a lot that they could do voluntarily that would obviate what we would need to do at the WTO, but because we are not there, we have significant portions of the global economy telling us that they are in trouble, that they need access, and that they need to do something through the rules, because otherwise they're not getting any progress and their hopes and dreams and their recovery are really held back because of it. So that's what I'd like to convey is that, we're going to have a process, we will talk through these issues, and that is what I really am going to lean into having the WTO produce.
Congressman Wenstrup's comments about possible manufacturing in factories in developing countries ("if countries are in need, if they could make it very simple for a company like Pfizer to manufacture in their country") could be taken as a subtle nudge in the direction he thinks this all should go. Tai's response was perhaps a little less subtle as a nudge to the pharmaceutical industry to go in that direction ("There is a lot that they could do voluntarily that would obviate what we would need to do at the WTO").
Congressman Smucker:
... I share some of the concerns on the intellectual property, and for me it's sort of a fundamental question, and I'm somewhat new to trade, being new to the committee, but like, I think it's a fundamental property rights question. How is it not, how can we give away the property of a company that has developed it on its own without consideration?
Ambassador Tai:
Well, thank you for your question. ... You know, it will be helpful to unpack a little bit. What this waiver means, and one point that's occurred to me that is important for me to get on the record here is that a temporary suspension of intellectual property protections at the WTO is because of a global pandemic, because of a very critical public health situation, is actually something that we have precedent for in the early 2000s. We did just that. We were able to agree at the WTO to temporarily suspend IP protections for AIDS and HIV drugs because of what was happening on the African continent with respect to populations of patients facing the dire consequences of the disease, but not being able to afford the medicines, and the technology that we had actually already developed and were available here in the United States. We're not, we're not talking about giving away intellectual property what we're saying is that we are allowing for. This is what the, ..
Congressman Smucker:
Why wouldn't that be done ... why wouldn't we do that in conjunction with a company and provide consideration for that, I guess, we're maybe not giving it away but we're giving away future earnings based on investments that they made.
Ambassador Tai:
Well I think that these are parameters for discussion, absolutely. But I think that you know in terms of what's been proposed at the WTO it's been this serious cry for help that's been met with silence for months.
Tai's response here may be an indication that what many of us have been saying about offering Pharma money to do more licensing deals is on the table and is a realistic possibility.
