USCIB co-signed a multi-association letter to the Biden Administration at the end of February strongly opposing the proposed expansion of the WTO TRIPS waiver to cover COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics. The letter was addressed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, USTR Katherine Tai, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and White House Chief of Staff Jeffrey Zients.  

The letter advanced the same arguments USCIB made in its submission last year to the U.S. International Trade Commission (Investigation No. 332-596) on the TRIPS waiver extension: the extension would undermine innovation, global health security as well as research and development for products that are fundamental to fighting global crises. USCIB was deeply disappointed with the TRIPS waiver for COVID-19 vaccines announced at the WTO in June 2022. Extending the waiver to diagnostics and therapeutics would further erode international rule of law.

As such, USCIB welcomed the outcome at the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi last week to table this proposal.  

“For nearly 30 years, the WTO TRIPS Agreement has served its role well in providing the global legal architecture for supporting and driving innovation,” said USCIB Senior Vice President for Trade, Investment and Digital Policy Alice Slayton Clark. “The waiver extension would have represented a virtual death knell not only for the pharmaceutical industry but also for innovative industry writ large.”