Time.news – The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in just over twenty-four hours trashed what had been judged – yesterday – an opening to the American president, Joe Biden, for the liberalization of patents for the production of the vaccine against Covid-19.
“I think we need to be open to the discussion on the intellectual property waiver but it has to be done at 360 degrees. Because we need vaccines now for the whole world. In the short term, the intellectual property waiver won’t solve the problems, it won’t bring us a single dose “.
Very clear words pronounced by the president of the European executive at the end of the Social Summit in Porto and before the dinner with the heads of state and government with which the discussion on patents was also expected. “What is needed in the short and medium term is the sharing of vaccines, the export of the doses that are produced and the investment in increasing production. The EU has started its vaccine sharing mechanism, for example with 650 thousand doses for the Western Balkans “, he highlighted.
During the dinner of the leaders, the Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi also expressed his conviction: “In Europe we must continue to accelerate vaccinations with transparency and reliability. We must also increase production in every part of Europe. The other countries – he added. – they must remove export blocks: the European Union exports 80% of its production to countries affected by export blocks. In this context, I welcome President Biden’s proposal “.
The real battle of von der Leyen remains the export. “The European Union is the only democratic region in this world that is exporting on a large scale. About half of the doses that are produced in Europe are exported to nearly 90 countries, including the Covax mechanism. So far 200 million doses have been exported. and around 200 million have been handed over to Europeans. We invite all those engaged in the debate on patent liberalization to join us in exporting in large quantities as we do, “he claimed. Finally, von der Leyen called for “investing in production capacity, including in Africa, to increase production”.
The European Union thus appeases enthusiasm for patent liberalization. Solution, requested at the WTO headquarters by South Africa and India, to which the United States has also opened its doors. It is considered by many to be the turning point for increasing the production capacity of doses and making them reach developing countries as well. This is not the case for Brussels. “We have had no problems so far and we have not been given any examples of cases where production capacity has been restricted due to intellectual property protection or that patents are bottlenecks.” A well-informed European source specified.
“And even if this case should emerge, we already have a solution: the compulsory license that forces the company to grant the use to others. It is a tool provided by the WTO and which has already been used on several occasions”, he said. explained. “Furthermore, there is also the possibility of the obligation, for the same reason, of the transfer of technologies”, highlighted the source.
“The removal of patents will by no means solve the problem of production capacity. Now there is a need to produce the largest number of doses in the shortest possible time,” he reiterated. Even if the strategy of derogating from intellectual property were to succeed, it would still not give the hoped-for results. Certainly not in time to respond to the emergency.
“When we talk about Pfizer’s vaccine, for example, we are not talking about a single patent but a set of patents for the components of that vaccine. Those with mRna are covered by eighty to one hundred patents,” pointed out another European source. “Each of these patents concerns that precise component and does not allow us to have the general picture. For this reason it cannot be sufficient to liberalize patents to produce vaccines. The transfer of technologies and knowledge is necessary and this cannot be done with an act. . And to do that it takes six to twelve months, “he continued.
The collaboration of pharmaceutical companies therefore remains essential. In this way the political front widens, which is detached from the proposal of the head of the White House. In Porto, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, also made it clear that he preferred the release of exports to the liberalization of patents. “To date, 100% of the vaccines produced in the United States of America remain in the American market” and “the Anglo-Saxons block many of the vaccines and ingredients” without allowing them to be exported, criticized the Elysée leader.
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