MSF Accuses EU Of Stalling Patent Waiver Talks

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th June, 2021) Doctors Without Borders (MSF) accused the European Union on Monday of seeking to delay World Trade Organization-sponsored negotiations to scrap intellectual property barriers on COVID-19 treatments.

The EU submitted on Friday a counter-proposal to the WTO, which plans to hold a meeting on the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver. In it, the European community called for compulsory licensing deals, rather than suspending patents on lifesaving drugs and vaccines.

MSF rebuked EU's proposal in a statement, saying that compulsory licensing "brings nothing significantly new to the table and instead is merely a maneuver to stall the waiver negotiation process.

"

It explained that the proposed TRIPS waiver would provide virus-hit countries with an effective and expeditious way to remove key intellectual property barriers in advance, rather than wait for them to hit and then scramble into action.

The EU plan has been backed by the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Norway. MSF says the TRIPS waiver enjoys the support of more than 100 nations, including the United States and more recently the BRICS bloc of emerging economies, although Brazil remains on the fence.