the governments of South Africa and India

“ Given this present context of global emergency, it is important for WTO Members to work together to ensure that intellectual property rights such as patents, industrial designs, copyright and protection of undisclosed information do not create barriers to the timely access to affordable medical products including vaccines and medicines or to scaling-up of research, development, manufacturing and supply of medical products essential to combat COVID-19. ”

“ As new diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines for COVID-19 are developed, there are significant concerns, how these will be made available promptly, in sufficient quantities and at affordable price to meet global demand. Critical shortages in medical products have also put at grave risk patients suffering from other communicable and non-communicable diseases. ”

“ As at 1 October 2020, there were about 333,722,075 confirmed cases globally with 1,009,270 confirmed deaths.2 To date, there is no vaccine or medicine to effectively prevent or treat COVID-19. All WTO Members are struggling to contain the spread of the pandemic and provide health care services to those affected. Many developed, developing and least developed countries have declared a national emergency with the aim to curb the growing outbreak, and as advised by the WHO implemented social distancing measures with significant consequences for society and the economy. ”

“ There are several reports about intellectual property rights hindering or potentially hindering timely provisioning of affordable medical products to the patients.See 3.1 e.g. 3.2 It is also reported that some WTO Members have carried out urgent legal amendments to their national patent laws to expedite the process of issuing compulsory/government use licenses.
10. Beyond patents, other intellectual property rights may also pose a barrier, with limited options to overcome those barriers. ”

“ A particular concern for countries with insufficient or no manufacturing capacity are the requirements of Article 31bis and consequently the cumbersome and lengthy process for the import and export of pharmaceutical products. ”