Five EU countries say focus should be on vaccine production, not patents (updated)

Astrazeneca Pharma India

07/05/2021 16:38

(Adds France's Macron, letter from five leaders)
    By John Chalmers and Marine Strauss
    BRUSSELS, May 7 (Reuters) - Five European Union countries
distanced themselves on Friday from the idea of waiving patent
rights on coronavirus vaccines, saying the key to ending the
COVID-19 pandemic was making more vaccines quickly.
    Leaders of the 27-nation bloc were to discuss the
suggestion, backed by U.S. President Joe Biden, at a two-day
summit that opened in the Portuguese city of Porto on Friday,
but are divided about its usefulness.
    Experts say waivers could take years to negotiate, and would
not address the immediate need to manufacture more doses fast.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2MT2W2
    "What is the current issue? It is not really about
intellectual property. Can you give intellectual property to
laboratories that do not know how to produce and will not
produce tomorrow?" French President Emmanuel Macron said on
entering the talks.
    "The main issue for solidarity is the distribution of
doses," he said, adding that France was working hand in hand
with Germany on the issue. Berlin expressed its opposition to
the idea on Thursday.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2MT84R
    Biden on Wednesday backed a call from India and South Africa
to waive patent protection for COVID-19 vaccines, responding to
pressure from Democratic lawmakers and more than 100 other
countries, but angering pharmaceutical companies.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2MS2IE
    Some EU officials argue that it could take two years to
agree on the waivers in the World Trade Organization (WTO), most
likely making it irrelevant to the current pandemic.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2MT2W2
    
    DIFFICULT PROCESS
    The EU leaders are likely to hear advice from the bloc's
executive, the European Commission, that a waiver would not help
to boost production, especially in poorer countries, as the
manufacturing process requires advanced technologies and
facilities, officials said.
    The U.S. firm Moderna waived patent rights in October on its
vaccine, which uses using the latest mRNA technology, but no
other firm has yet announced that it will try to copy the shot.
    Germany, home to BioNTech  22UAy.DE , which owns a patent on
another mRNA vaccine developed jointly with Pfizer of the United
States  PFE.N , opposes waivers, while Italy supports them, EU
officials said.
    While the pandemic rages, the chances are high that even
more dangerous new variants of the coronavirus will emerge.
    The pharmaceutical industry argues that the most expedient
approach is to overcome existing production bottlenecks, and
sell or donate vaccines to countries around the world.
    "No one we will be safe until we all are. If vaccination
takes place only in developed countries, our victory over
COVID-19 will only be short-lived. We are seeing how quickly the
virus is mutating, creating new variants that entail new
challenges," the leaders of Belgium, Sweden, France, Denmark and
Spain said in a joint letter to the Commission.
    "Vaccines have become security policy and the EU cannot
afford to lag behind; to this end, an increased European
production capacity will be a key priority," they said.
    The EU, which is among the biggest producers of vaccines in
the world, is also the main exporter, with 200 million doses
already shipped outside the bloc. The United States and Britain
have not exported any of the vaccines they have made.

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COVID-19 vaccine tracker    https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/vaccination-rollout-and-access/
EXPLAINER-COVID-19 vaccine patent waiver talks could still take
months     urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2MRHAD
EU supports COVID vaccine patent waiver talks, but critics say
won't solve scarcity     urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2MT13P
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
 (Additional reporting by Jan Strupczewski, Phil Blenkinsop,
Francesco Guarasio and Gabriela Baczynska; Writing by Jan
Strupczewski; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
 ((jan.strupczewski@thomsonreuters.com; +32 2 585 28 64;))