WASHINGTON — U.S. Sens. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Tom Carper, D-Del., led a bipartisan group of senators in writing U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to urge the Biden Administration to safeguard American innovation in the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) negotiations on whether to expand its waiver of intellectual property (IP) rights enforcement for COVID-19 vaccines to also include therapeutics and diagnostics, and to seek additional information about the Biden Administration’s approach to these deliberations.
In June 2022, WTO members agreed to waive obligations under the WTO’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement for COVID-19 vaccine patent subject matter for a five-year period. This requires the United States to not enforce certain IP rights on behalf of U.S.-based companies at the WTO. The expansion under consideration would enable eligible WTO member countries to ignore otherwise enforceable IP protections for therapeutics and diagnostics that treat COVID-19.
“Strong protections for intellectual property are the bedrock of American innovation, as evidenced by the record development of multiple vaccines to combat COVID-19. Unfortunately, the Biden Administration continues to threaten to again abrogate American IP protections, which will have devastating, long-reaching effects on access to treatments beyond those used for COVID-19. The United States must reject any effort to extend the already erroneous waiver for vaccine IP to the much broader categories of therapeutics and diagnostics,” said Toomey.
“Intellectual property protections are a key driver of research and development and job creation in Delaware and across the United States, and our innovation ecosystem has been critical for the development and deployment of tools to combat the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Carper. “As World Trade Organization member countries consider intellectual property waivers for COVID therapeutics and diagnostics, I strongly encourage the Biden Administration to consider the impact of these possible waivers on American innovation when developing a negotiating position. I look forward to receiving more detail on how the Administration is approaching the WTO negotiations, and I am eager to continue working with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai on this important issue.”
Senators Bill Cassidy, R-La., Chris Coons, D-Del., John Barrasso, R-Wyo., Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Robert Menendez, D-N.J., Richard Burr, R-N.C. and Jon Tester, D-Mont., also signed onto the letter.
