Incubate Statement on WTO Decision to Suspend Global IP Rights

The Incubate Coalition issued the following statement preceding the WTO TRIPS Council meeting (July 6-7) and following the World Trade Organization’s decision at its 12th Ministerial Conference in Geneva, Switzerland to waive intellectual property (IP) protections for Covid-19 vaccines.

---

06.30.2022

WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 30) — Today, the Incubate Coalition issued the following statement preceding the WTO TRIPS Council meeting (July 6-7) and following the World Trade Organization’s decision at its 12th Ministerial Conference in Geneva, Switzerland to waive intellectual property (IP) protections for Covid-19 vaccines.

“Time and again we show evidence to policymakers that IP protections are fundamental to early-stage life sciences investors, and inventors. The WTO’s disregard for this reality – which in the United States dates back to our Constitution – is a disappointment to the entire life sciences ecosystem and the patients it serves. Besides being at odds with the fact that IP is not a barrier to vaccine production around the globe, this decision sends a clear message to the innovator community: if investors and inventors make something so incredible it truly saves the world, there is nothing to prevent global bureaucrats from taking it. 

This will disincentivize investment in neglected diseases, weaken investor certainty and raise the cost of capital, leaving patients to pay a heavy price in the years to come. Other industries committed to addressing poverty, hunger and climate change will surely take note of this failure to protect a critical part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. It is a sad and disappointing day for science and free markets.

If the WTO continues down this path of rescinding IP rights, there will be fewer new solutions for our future challenges.