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“A TANTALISING GLIMPSE OF THE POSSIBLE” Debate on IP waiver raises prospect of accelerating the end of COVID-19 pandemic 10 December 2020 4:08PM UTC
10 December – Earlier today, countries from across the globe took part in a debate at the World Trade Organisation on whether certain IP protections known as Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) could be temporarily waived in relation to COVID-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments.
This waiver would allow countries to individually waive COVID-19 related IP rights, allowing more producers to take advantage of medical breakthroughs to produce supplies of the potentially life-saving vaccines and treatments in regions that may otherwise struggle to access them. This would not be the first time the WTO has loosened Intellectual Property rules to save lives, it agreed to more flexibility in 2001 to allow producers in Africa and Asia to develop generic antiretroviral drugs to help reduce the d