A temporary waiver of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement for the COVID-19 vaccine is essential to meet the number of doses of vaccinations required to achieve global herd immunity, according to a joint article.  Parsa Erfani, Agnes Binagwaho, Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, Prof Muhammad Yunus, Paul Farmer, and Vanessa Kerry have written the article published in the British Medical Journal recently.  The titled of the article is "Intellectual property waiver for covid-19 vaccines will advance global health equity" thst focused on the importance of a temporary IP waiver to reach global needs, said the Yunus Centre on Monday.  Also read: Bangladesh seeks TRIPS waiver to ramp up Covid vaccine production The article stated the current vaccination figures show that the percentages of people in high income countries who have been vaccinated is 46% while 20% in middle income countries and 0.9% in low income countries.  This is largely due to acquisition of doses by high income countries in large quantities as well as production being restricted to a small number of manufacturers, it reads.  The article states that a clear scarcity of supply exists, and this exists due to intellectual property (IP) protection which currently restricts production and access to the vaccines.  Donor based models have not worked in reaching the highest risk population, due to underfunding and vaccine scarcity, said the Yunus Centre quoting the article.  To meet the current global needs it is necessary to also have production of vaccines in LMICs, it said.  A temporary waiver, will enable more manufacturers and result in yielding doses faster, according to the article.  Also read: Next 2 weeks crucial to ensure TRIPS waiver for pharma beyond LDC graduation The arguments against the waiver include, that LMICs have limited capacity to produce such complex vaccines, that a move like this could stifle further biomedical innovation and funding into such research, as there would be no return on investment and cause bottlenecks in the supply chain. However, data does not support this. Sharing of the technology and the technical know how is crucial in helping to expand production to meet global needs, according to the article.  There are LMICs who have production capacity for complex COVID-19 vaccine production. With the IP waiver, and sharing of all vaccine related knowledge and technology as well as planning, bottlenecks in raw materials can be avoided. The waiver would be temporary thus only affecting the COVID-19 vaccine, and many of the costs of research and development have been recouped.  There has also been publicly funded research which laid the ground work for the vaccine. Keeping all things in mind, this seems to be the best way forward in meeting global needs. Now, it is important that countries need to agree on a temporary IP waiver, in order to ensure the world's population can receive the vaccinations, achieving global herd immunity and facilitating global health equity.

Several world leaders Thursday praised the U.S. call to remove patent protections on COVID-19 vaccines to help poor countries obtain shots. But the proposal faces a multitude of hurdles, including resistance from the pharmaceutical industry. Nor is it clear what effect such a step might have on the campaign to vanquish the outbreak. Activists and humanitarian institutions cheered after the U.S. reversed course Wednesday and called for a waiver of intellectual property protections on the vaccine. The decision ultimately is up to the 164-member World Trade Organization, and if just one country votes against a waiver, the proposal will fail. The Biden administration announcement made the U.S. the first country in the developed world with big vaccine manufacturing to publicly support the waiver idea floated by India and South Africa in October. On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron embraced it as well. “I completely favor this opening up of the intellectual property,” Macron said at a vaccine center. However, like many pharmaceutical companies, Macron insisted that a waiver would not solve the problem of access to vaccines. He said manufacturers in places like Africa are not now equipped to make COVID-19 vaccines, so donations of shots from wealthier countries should be given priority instead. Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca — all companies with licensed COVID-19 vaccines — had no immediate comment, though Moderna has long said it will not pursue rivals for patent infringement during the pandemic. Also read: US tribe shares vaccine with relatives, neighbors in Canada U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken underscored the urgency of moving fast now. “On the current trajectory, if we don’t do more, if the entire world doesn’t do more, the world won’t be vaccinated until 2024,” he said in an interview with NBC while visiting Ukraine. India, as expected, welcomed the move. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison called the U.S. position “great news.” Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio wrote on Facebook that the U.S. announcement was “a very important signal” and that the world needs “free access” to vaccine patents. But Italian Premier Mario Draghi was more circumspect. Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country would support it. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the U.S. decision too. But German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office spoke out against it, saying: “The protection of intellectual property is a source of innovation and must remain so in the future.” Also read: US support behind vaccine patent waiver ‘monumental moment’ in Covid fight: WHO A Merkel spokeswoman, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said Germany is focused instead on how to increase vaccine manufacturers’ production capacity. In Brazil, one of the deadliest COVID-19 hot spots in the world, Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga said he fears that the country does not have the means to produce vaccines and that the lifting of patent protections could interfere with Brazil’s efforts to buy doses from pharmaceutical companies. In closed-door talks at the WTO in recent months, Australia, Britain, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Norway, Singapore and the United States opposed the waiver idea, according to a Geneva-based trade official who was not authorized the discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity. Some 80 countries, mostly developing ones, have supported the proposal, the official said. China and Russia — two other major COVID-19 vaccine makers — didn’t express a position but were open to further discussion, the official said. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the 27-nation bloc is ready to talk about the idea, but she remained noncommittal and emphasized that the EU has been exporting vaccines widely — while the U.S. has not. EU leaders said the bloc may discuss the matter at a summit that starts Friday. Also read: US backs waiving intellectual property rules on vaccines The pharmaceutical industry has argued that a waiver will do more harm than good in the long run. Easing patent protections would eat into their profits, potentially reducing the incentives that push companies to innovate and make the kind of tremendous leaps they did with the COVID-19 vaccines, which have been churned out at a blistering, unprecedented pace. The industry has contended, too, that production of the vaccines is complicated and can’t be ramped up simply by easing patent rights. Instead, it has said that reducing snarls in supply chains and shortages of ingredients is a more pressing issue. The industry has insisted that a faster solution would be for rich countries to share their vaccine stockpiles with poorer ones. “A waiver is the simple but the wrong answer to what is a complex problem,” said the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations. “Waiving patents of COVID-19 vaccines will not increase production nor provide practical solutions needed to battle this global health crisis.” Intellectual property law expert Shyam Balganesh, a professor at Columbia University, said a waiver would only go so far because of bottlenecks in the manufacturing and distribution of vaccines. Also read: EU medicine regulator starts rolling review of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine Backers of the waiver say that expanded production by the big pharmaceutical companies and donations from richer countries to poor ones won’t be enough, and that there are manufacturers standing by that could make the vaccines if given the blueprints. “A waiver of patents for #COVID19 vaccines & medicines could change the game for Africa, unlocking millions more vaccine doses & saving countless lives,” World Health Organization Africa chief Matshidiso Moeti tweeted. Just over 20 million vaccine doses have been administered across the African continent, which has 1.3 billion people. There is precedent: In 2003, WTO members agreed to waive patent rights and allow poorer countries to import generic treatments for the AIDS virus, malaria and tuberculosis. “We believe that when the history of this pandemic is written, history will remember the move by the U.S. government as doing the right thing at the right time,” Africa CDC Director John Nkengasong said.

IPDC Finance Limited has been awarded Intellectual Property Protection Award 2021 for its contribution to protect and present Bangla Folk music to the youth.  The award was announced in an online seminar on the importance of copyright on protecting intellectual property to celebrate International Copyright Day organized by the Bangladesh Copyright Office, according to a press release. State minister for the Ministry of Cultural Affairs K M Khaled was present as the  guest. Managing Director, and CEO of IPDC Mominul Islam represented IPDC Finance.  Also read: IPDC: Mominul Islam re-appointed MD, CEO for 4th time  Cultural Affairs secretary M Badrul Arefin, Department of Patent, Design & Trademarks secretary Md. Abdus Sattar, additional secretary of Ministry of Cultural Affairs and president of copyright board Shabiha Pervin and registrar Bangladesh Copyright Office Jafor Raja Chowdhury also attended the program.  The ministry has taken this initiative to attract creative personalities, intellectuals, eminent artistes, writers, and those closely involved in creative activities in the education and research profession.  IPDC has been awarded for its cautious effort of preventing the oblivious extinction of folk music and rekindle admiration among the younger generation.  Read IPDC Finance donates Tk 2 crore to PM’s Relief and Welfare Fund "With IPDC Amader Gaan, we have taken the initiative; however, our culture is glorious. I invite all to come forward and enrich this native culture. As we are economically advancing, our culture will be an asset for us; we must preserve it,” said MD and CEO of IPDC Finance Moninul Islam  To promote Bangladeshi folk music globally, IPDC Finance Limited created a virtual platform, 'IPDC Amader Gaan,' in September last year. Since its inception, the platform has released nine folk songs on its YouTube channel with the same title.   Also read: IPDC, BSCMS launch ‘Bangladesh Supply Chain Excellence Awards 2020’ The platform exclusively features diverse musical influences and offers studio-recorded performances by promising singers of the country.  Penned by several mystic bards, including Fakir Lalon Shah, Shah Abdul Karim, and Palli Kabi Jasimuddin, several covers received unparalleled popularity.  The channel alone has got 10M+ views, while the total views of the songs of 'IPDC Amader Gaan' on different channels of Youtube and Facebook have exceeded 100M. Read 'Folk Empress' Momotaz conferred honorary doctorate by Indian university