2021 brought a full year of the COVID-19 pandemic. A recent session at the World Trade Organization’s public forum coined intellectual property (IP) as the “unsung hero of the pandemic” which nicely summarizes the impact of innovation in 2021. Here are three trends from IP Progress’ year in review, which highlight the essential nature of IP and why challenging its role in the pandemic’s progress remains misguided:
IP helped get COVID-19 vaccines and treatments to patients.
While 2020 saw the discovery of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, 2021 was the year when these innovations more broadly made their way into the world. Reports and guest commentary throughout the year underscored the critical role of IP in not only creating COVID-19 therapeutics but for manufacturing and distributing the therapeutics. Experts further emphasized that IP rights are key to ending the pandemic, and any attempts to undermine those rights are counterproductive.
A recent session at the World Trade Organization’s public forum coined intellectual property (IP) as the “unsung hero of the pandemic” which nicely summarizes the impact of innovation in 2021.
World leaders must support strong IP rights and address true barriers to end the pandemic.
While we saw innovation leaders support IP at the World Health Organization Executive Board meeting, select world leaders continued to seek misguided “solutions” for the pandemic by calling for the waiver of IP rights on COVID-19 treatments. Yet despite critics’ claims, IP has played an essential role in addressing the coronavirus. Further attention was brought to the real barriers standing in the way of vaccine equity, such as last-mile distribution issues and poor infrastructure. Addressing these issues and achieving vaccine equity requires multiple approaches, such as continuing to optimize production, stepping up dose sharing and eliminating trade barriers. But waiving IP rights is not one of them.
In supporting a strong IP ecosystem, we can see how innovators continue to advance us forward.
While the pandemic was at the forefront this year, innovators from all backgrounds and areas continued to show the world the power of innovation – including how life-saving innovation does not have to be specific to the pandemic. During World Intellectual Property Day, we highlighted advances of small and medium sized enterprises. And despite insulin being discovered a century ago, innovators continue to improve upon the original discovery to help patients living with diabetes. Recognizing the economic toll that the pandemic has taken across the world, some inventors are seeking ways to support their local industries while improving technologies. And others are using their creativity to inspire a future generation of inventors.
