By Kevin E. Noonan — It came as something of a shock in May, 2021 when the Biden administration voiced support for waiver of intellectual property protection mandated under the TRIPS agreement for COVID-19 vaccines (see “Biden Administration Supports Waiver of IP Protection for COVID-19 Vaccines”). The waiver had originally been proposed to the World Trade Organization (WTO) by India and South Africa; in that incarnation a much broader swath of intellectual property protections had been proposed (encompassing diagnostics and therapeutic drugs related to the pandemic). When eventually imposed under the WTO’s June 17, 2022 Ministerial Decision, the waiver was…
