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The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) has launched an investigation “to inform consideration of whether to extend flexibilities under the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) to COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics.” The investigation was requested by USTR. The announcement includes a request for comments from “foreign governments, non-governmental health advocates, and diagnostic and therapeutic manufacturers.” There will be an open public hearing on March 29, and requests to testify are due by March 15. The deadline for written comments is May 5.

The request for comments notes that the USITC is specifically interested in answers to the following:

• How the TRIPS Agreement promotes innovation in and/or limits access to COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics;
• Successes and challenges in using existing TRIPS flexibilities;
• The extent to which products not yet on the market, or new uses for existing products, could be affected by an extension of the Ministerial Decision to diagnostics and therapeutics;
• Whether and how existing TRIPS rules and flexibilities can be deployed to improve access to medicines;
• To what extent further clarifications of existing TRIPS flexibilities would be useful in improving access to medicines;
• The relationship between intellectual property protection and corporate research and development expenditures, taking into account other expenditures, such as share buybacks, dividends, and marketing;
• The relevance, if any, of the fact that diagnostic and therapeutic products used with respect to COVID-19 may also have application to other diseases; and
• The location of jobs associated with the manufacturing of diagnostics and therapeutics, including in the United States.

For more information, see:

• USITC Press Release
• USITC Notice of Investigation