Two days after comments closed on the USPTO’s Request for Comments on better commercializing IP, several groups have weighed in to urge the Office not to ignore the link between this topic and the Biden Administration’s recent proposal on march-in rights under the Bayh-Dole Act.
4/14/2021
(Adds U.S. Chamber of Commerce reaction)
GENEVA, April 14 (Reuters) - The head of the World Trade
Organization laid out a series of actions on Wednesday for
countries and drug makers to increase production of coronavirus
vaccines and share them more widely and fairly.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who became WTO director-general in
March, called a closed-door meeting of producers, governments
and others over inequitable access, with low-income countries
administering just 0.2% of 700 million global doses.
In her concluding remarks, Okonjo-Iweala said that concerns
over cross-border supply chains, including export curbs and
shortages of skilled personnel, had reinforced her view that the
WTO must play a central role in the response to the pandemic.