The story of Biden’s decision to support the suspension of Covid patents

Last year, Joe Biden pledged to push the U.S. government’s approach to the pharmaceutical industry by supporting a step to end companies ’rights to enforce their intellectual property over Covid vaccines. “This is the only human thing that can be done in the world,” He said during a campaign event in July 2020.

But by the time the decision was announced this week, many rulers and industry doubted the U.S. president was following his campaign promise. Not only did several senior officials in their administration have doubts, but few pharmaceutical executives believed that a U.S. government would really take such a strong stand against the powerful lobby of the industry.

“No one thought Biden was going to take over the pharmaceutical lobby, [they thought] I would be too scared, “said Brandon Barford, a partner at Washington-based consulting firm Beacon Policy Advisers.” But before the financial crisis [of 2008], everyone thought the financial services industry was untouchable, then that changed. This week he showed that pharmaceutical companies are the new banks.

When India and South Africa first approached the World Trade Organization in October last year with a proposal to suspend intellectual property rights of all drugs and technology related to Covid, was quickly overthrown. The United States and the EU not only opposed renouncing Trips ’intellectual property agreement for Covid drugs, but blocked any discussion about it.

Biden’s comments on the trail of the campaign opened the possibility of a change in U.S. policy. However, even when Katherine Tai, the top U.S. trade envoy, began a departmental consultation on the issue last month, most officials thought the U.S. would maintain the position taken by the Donald Trump administration. .

“There is pressure to do so from Democratic members of Congress,” a pharmaceutical industry lobbyist told the Financial Times last month. “But the White House will never back down from that.”

[Katherine Tai] he’s not a person you’d ever want in your poker game, because he’ll kick your ass. He has the best poker face

Over the next three weeks, Tai met people with an interest in the issue, from union leaders to top executives of vaccine manufacturers. Many in attendance at these meetings said it was difficult to know what Tai was planning, but people on both sides of the debate came out of the talks believing they supported his arguments.

Asia Russell was part of a virtual meeting with Tai on April 13 as executive director of Health Gap, an organization dedicated to improving access to HIV drugs around the world.

“I don’t think it was decided when he met us,” said Russell, a prominent advocate of the resignation. “But he told us that the government’s response to the Covid crisis could not be normal, which we found very encouraging.”

Two weeks later, Tai held virtual meetings with senior executives from each of the companies that have had Covid vaccines authorized in the US or about to: Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, Novavax and AstraZeneca.

They he told him supporting a Trips exemption would undermine the deployment of U.S. vaccines by increasing competition for scarce vaccine supplies, while allowing Russia and China to access U.S. technological advances. “We made a powerful case and it certainly seemed to listen,” said a figure from the pharmaceutical industry involved in the talks.

Those who have dealt with Tai say that his inscrutability is one of his great assets. “[Tai] he’s not a person you’d ever want in your poker game, because he’s going to kick your ass, ”said one person who participated in the queries.“ He has the best poker face. ”

Meanwhile, high-ranking members of the Biden administration expressed their concerns in support of a resignation. According to several people involved in the discussions, Gina Raimondo, the trade secretary, was the most direct, with the U.S. trademark and patent office in her department particularly concerned about the long-term effect on intellectual property rights. · American class.

Several people also said that David Kessler, the head of Operation Warp Speed, the government program that helped develop the vaccines, was against the waiver. One person involved in the consultations said Kessler had described it as the “third railroad” for the pharmaceutical industry; so loaded that it was not to be touched. A Kessler spokesman did not respond to any requests for comment.

One of the most prominent figures to express his concern was Anthony Fauci, the president’s chief medical adviser and one of America’s best-known public health experts. Just two days before the decision was announced, Fauci he told the Financial Times he was “agnostic” on the issue, but worried he might end up entangling the United States in lengthy litigation by pharmaceutical companies.

Fauci’s comments sparked a backlash from progressive activists, who accused the administration of leaning into the pharmaceutical lobby.

But people in the administration say the anger of the progressives was not what won the day.

Instead, Tai and Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, argued that this was a low-risk way to secure a diplomatic victory for the Biden administration, which had been attacked for not exporting more vaccines. i does not respond quickly enough to the coveted crisis unfolding in India. The dispute was a distant threat, given how long the WTO negotiations would take and perhaps not happen at all if others, including the UK and the EU, continued to oppose the move.

There is now a broad consensus in the Democratic Party that something needs to be done about drug prices. What the president has just done is to prove that it can be done

A day after Fauci made his comments, Tai presented his conclusion to Biden at a meeting at the Oval Office. Also in attendance were Ron Klain, the president’s chief of staff, Bruce Reed, Klain’s deputy, Sullivan and Jeff Zients, head of the White House Covid working group. None of the prominent opponents of the idea attended; Raimondo was in Connecticut at the time, according to his department.

The presidents and their advisers were particularly convinced by diplomatic reasons to support a resignation, the informants said at the meeting. “This is not the measure to end the pandemic,” a person in the administration said. “But it makes sense politically.”

Proponents of the resignation say they will now monitor WTO debates to make sure they are not dragged to the point where they are no longer useful. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has already said she continues to oppose the measure.

But those in Washington say that whatever the outcome of the WTO talks, the U.S. pharmaceutical industry has now lost its untouchable brilliance. This could have important consequences for future policy debates, such as reducing drug costs in the United States, because patent protections are the basis that allows pharmaceutical companies to charge premium prices for a period of time without fear of competition. of cheaper generic rivals.

“There is now a broad consensus in the Democratic party that something needs to be done about drug prices,” Barford said. “What the president just did is prove that it can be done.”