EXIM Matters: Funding technology transfer for vax better than IPR waiver

Experts say merely waiving IPR will not raise vaccine supply unless pharma companies transfer the technology and trade secrets that will enable others to produce the vaccines

Last Wednesday, the Biden administration signalled its intention to support the proposal of India and South Africa at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to waive intellectual property rights (IPR) of the pharmaceutical companies that have developed Covid-19 vaccines. It is, however, far from certain that many manufacturers will make the vaccines without collaborating with the patent holders. 
 
The idea of IPR protection is to let innovators, who invest massive sums of money to develop or invent new products, recover their investments. Not allowing them to do so will discourage such investments and we may eventually lose out on new