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EU Pushes For Compulsory Licensing Of Drugs & Vaccines In Health Crises

Activists Welcome 'Surprise' Move But Industry Disappointed

 
• By Ian Schofield

The EU has published an action plan that is intended to upgrade the bloc’s intellectual property framework while ensuring that goods such as medicines and vaccines are made as widely available as possible. The initiative is part of wide-ranging plans to support member states’ recovery from the pandemic crisis and help ensure the EU’s resilience to future health threats.

Intellectual Property text on colorful broken background
The EU is planning significant changes in the IP area • Source: Shutterstock

In a move that has angered the R&D-based pharmaceutical industry, the European Commission has called on EU member states to take coordinated action on the issuing of compulsory licenses for therapeutics and vaccines in the event of future health crises such as COVID-19, albeit as a “last resort” when other efforts to make the intellectual property available have failed.

In its intellectual property action plan, the commission says that the COVID-19 crisis “has illustrated EU’s dependence on critical innovations and technologies, and reminded Europe of the importance of

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