The Biden Administration's support for lifting covid-19 vaccine patents will be the subject of discussion at the World Trade Organization (WTO), according to Bloomberg.

The negotiations "will take time, given the consensual nature of the institution and the complexity of the issues involved," U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said yesterday.

Biden's public stance was not well received by the pharmaceutical companies, which saw their shares go on a downward course around the world.

In Germany, BioNTech's depositary receipts fell 19%, while across the Atlantic Pfizer shares fell 2.5% in trading this morning in New York after they closed little changed.

Stephen Ubl, president and CEO of PhRMA, the group representing pharmaceutical industry companies, argued that "change in longstanding U.S. policy will not save lives."

"This decision does nothing to address the real difficulties of getting more doses (...)", pointed out the same official.

The European Union and China have already made it known that they intend to enter the debate over patent protection.

"The EU is ready to discuss any proposal that addresses the crisis effectively and pragmatically," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said today at a virtual conference from Florence, Italy

Recall that the US government announced yesterday that it supports the suspension of patent protection for vaccines in order to speed up production and distribution of doses worldwide, a decision that has already been applauded by the WHO.