May 6, 2021 Share
The Biden administration on Wednesday joined calls for more sharing of the technology behind COVID-19 vaccines to help speed the end of the pandemic, a shift that puts the U.S. alongside many in the developing world who want rich countries to do more to get doses to the needy.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced the government’s position, amid World Trade Organization talks about a possible temporary waiver of its protections that would allow more manufacturers to produce the life-saving vaccines.
“The Administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines,” Tai said in a statement.
Industry fights over global vaccine patents are just warming up washingtonpost.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from washingtonpost.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Thursday s Close Shave, Troubling New Highs and Lows, Peloton Kicks Into Gear The market came within whiskers of a technical breakdown on Thursday, yet few people seem to know or care.
May 07, 2021 | 07:28 AM EDT
The timing of that late surge of demand across financial markets on Thursday was absolutely extraordinary. In this very column, 24 hours ago, I touched on the fact that the Nasdaq Composite had been put in the position of defending its own 50 day SMA (simple moving average) for a couple days. I went on to illustrate how Cathie Wood s ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) had similarly spent days feeling around for support at the fund s 200-day SMA. All of this was ahead of Friday morning s expected release of April data for job creation and the entire employment situation.
Battle lines are forming over President Biden
The pharmaceutical industry and congressional Republicans blasted Biden’s announcement on Wednesday, saying it undermines incentives for American innovation and will not actually solve the complex problem of getting more doses to lower-income countries.
But Democrats and progressive groups lauded the move, which they had been pressuring Biden to make for weeks, and expressed hope that it is a sign of further action to lower drug prices and take on the pharmaceutical industry.
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“Let’s do insulin next,” tweeted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
“It’s a pandemic, it’s an extraordinary situation, but it’s a big ‘no’ to the pharmaceutical industry, without question,” said Peter Maybarduk, director of access to medicines at the progressive group Public Citizen. “It means that the Biden administration has said ‘no’ to pharma and could say no on other occasions.”