NOTE: KEI also submitted a 16-page in depth written submission to this investigation on March 20, 2023.
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) will hold a hearing on March 29-30, 2023 on COVID–19 Diagnostics and Therapeutics:
Supply, Demand, and TRIPS Agreement Flexibilities (Investigation No. 332-596). KEI will deliver an oral testimony at the hearing, which notes the roadblocks countries face in using TRIPS flexibilities and offering ways forward to address these issues in order to increase access to COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics.
The ITC was asked by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) to “conduct an investigation and prepare a report that analyzes the universe of existing COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics in relation to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) – including the range of definitions for diagnostics and therapeutics; diagnostics and therapeutics covered by patents and those in development; an overview of production, distribution, and demand; information on market segmentation of global demand and consumption; and other information relevant to the discussion of TRIPS Agreement flexibilities.” As of this post, the ITC is slated to have 57 speakers at the hearing on this issue. The hearing will be publicly accessible and will be streamed at a link to be provided on the US ITC events page.