Last straight line for the very sensitive subject of the provisional lifting of patents on anti-Covid vaccines.
The negotiations, which began two years ago under the leadership of the World Trade Organization (WTO), could be completed in the next few days.
Very involved in this issue which is close to her heart, the Director General, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, this week hailed
"the decisive progress made"
by four members (South Africa, India, the United States and the European Union) gathered as a group. restricted.
Read also
How China became the first manufacturer of anti-Covid vaccines
It is indeed the consensus reached between these key partners – India and South Africa are the spokespersons for developing countries that want to acquire production capacities – which opens the way to a global agreement.
The director general, who will continue this weekend the consultations of the 164 Member States, hopes to announce it next week during a meeting of the TRIPS Council (trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights).
The compromise on the table will allow developing countries to have access to all patents covering anti-Covid vaccines without necessarily having the agreement of the laboratories holding these patents.
And this for a temporary period, between three and five years.
This point has not yet been settled.
It also remains to finalize the remuneration conditions for pharmaceutical companies.
Developing countries account for more than 10% of Covid vaccine exports.
This is particularly the case for India, which obtained a license to produce the vaccine from AstraZeneca.
As soon as it was made public, the compromise sparked an outcry from major laboratories via the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries (Efpia).
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/PCE7NMB26ZDVRIQX2R26JSNH6A.jpg)
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/KMEYMJKESBAZBE4MRBAM4TGHIQ.jpg)
