In a letter sent to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai last week, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce expressed disappointment that the Biden Administration "continues to entertain actions, such as a waiver of the TRIPS Agreement, that would undermine the pandemic response."  The Chamber instead urged the Administration "to double down on efforts to distribute vaccines globally."

The Chamber sent its letter to the U.S. Trade Representative in advance of the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12), which will take place from November 30 to December 3, 2021 in Geneva, Switzerland (the Ministerial Conference is the top decision making body of the World Trade Organization (WTO)), noting that the MC12 "will be an inflection point for global pandemic response, the rules-based multilateral trading system, and international IP."  In its letter, the Chamber "strongly urge[s]" the Administration at the MC12 "to herald the tremendous success of the U.S. and international innovation ecosystem that continues to produce technological solutions to the technical problems of the COVID-19 pandemic."

According to the Chamber, "the appropriate solutions to continued effective pandemic response do not include weaker IP," but instead should focus on three objectives:

1. Return to health: accelerate supplies through safe and effective manufacture and licensing of vaccines and other medical technologies; 2. Return to Growth: ensure we continue to foster innovation (across the board); and 3. Prepare for the ongoing vaccination needs and the next pandemic, especially in least developed economies –- through effective and lasting solutions to national infrastructure for healthcare delivery and remove supply chain and regulatory barriers, not false solutions like IP waivers.

In its letter, the Chamber contends that "the United States found itself nearly uniquely positioned to provide durable and unprecedented answers to the problems posed by a novel coronavirus" as a result of "the strength of our IP framework and substantial contributions from the public sector, private sector and academic institutions whose work it supports."  The Chamber points out that since the start of the pandemic, COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing has risen to 1.6 billion doses per month, 9.3 billion doses so far in 2021, and a projected 24 billion doses by the end of June 2022, and states that "[t]his explosive growth in global vaccine production confirms that IP was not an impediment to vaccine discovery, development, or production at a scale to serve the world."

The Chamber's letter argues that:

[I]n those nations around the world where IP rights and private contracts are adequately protected by law, hundreds of IP licensing partnerships are driving the successful testing and production of both vaccines and therapies to meet the ever-shifting challenges of the pandemic.  Should we move from a cooperative, voluntary licensing arrangements to a compulsory, forced technology transfer environment, it would risk diverting scar[c]e inputs to startup facilities ill-prepared to use them efficiently or quickly.

In concluding its letter by opposing the Administration's support of a COVID-19-related TRIPS Agreement waiver, the Chamber declares that:

U.S. support for even a limited cessation of TRIPS standards will have an immediate dampening effect on the ability of the private sector to finance research and development, and a chilling long-term impact on U.S. technological leadership (in biotechnology, green technology, defense and other key sectors), all while providing formal impunity to IP theft by Chinese entities and other serial offenders.