PU Organizes Webinar on Patent Waiver on Covid Vaccines and Medicines
IPR-Chair in association with Department of Microbial Biotechnology, Panjab University, Chandigarh organized a webinar today about an ongoing contentious issue entitled ‘Patents on Vaccines and Medicines: Understanding Licensing and Patent Waiver Issues’, informed Prof.RupinderTewari, IPR-Chair Professor.
The talk was delivered by a well known IPR expert, Dr Yashwant D Panwar, Head, Patent Facilitation Centre (PFC) of Technology, Information Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC),GoI, New Delhi. Dr Panwar elaborated on the details of covid related patents available online, and urged Indian scientists to make use of this information and design new covid vaccines and novel drugs that can be patented. He informed the gathering that a robust Indian Patent Act is in place and has the provision of patent waiver and compulsory licensing of the patented technologies during an emergency like corona pandemic.
However, the situation is complicated as India is a signatory to the TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) Agreement of World Trade Organization (WTO) established by the United Nations. As per TRIPS agreement, patent waivers can only be implemented in member countries provided there is consensus among the 164 nations who are signatory to TRIPS. The Indian government is pushing hard to rope in countries, primarily Japan and European nations,showing reluctance to patent waiver for vaccines, medicines and other items involved in the treatment of corona infections. The webinar was organized For correspondence:
