WASHINGTON - Patrick Kilbride, Senior Vice President of the Global Innovation Policy Center at the US Chamber of Commerce issued the following statement in response to the release of the US International Trade Commission’s (USITC) report on the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) waiver of intellectual property (IP) commitments in the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement related to COVID-19 therapeutics and diagnostics. 

“Distribution of vaccines and treatments is critical, and misguided efforts to undermine the intellectual property rights responsible for the discovery of COVID-19 therapeutics and diagnostics sets a damaging precedent and fails to address the real barriers to patient access. The USITC's report underscores the success of IP-enabled licensing collaborations and fails to substantiate claims that IP posed a barrier to access to those products.

“US support for the initial COVID-19 vaccine waiver signaled a retreat from long-standing policies that have allowed the United States to be the global leader in innovation. An expansion of the waiver will undermine IP-driven innovation in the biopharmaceutical, creative, and technology sectors and emerging industries, effectively ceding IP leadership to foreign competitors.

“The US Chamber urges the Administration to re-assert America’s global leadership on IP policy and reject an expansion of the waiver once and for all.”