On March 11, 2020, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom declared that the COVID-19 outbreak "can be characterized as a pandemic," and cautioned that the WHO has "rung the alarm bell loud and clear." At the time of the announcement, the WHO noted that there were 118,000 cases reported globally in 114 countries. As of February 13, 2025, when it issued its most recent report, WHO reported 777,291,317 cases globally, regrettably resulting in 7,083,769 deaths. When the Director-General declared that the COVID-19 outbreak had become a pandemic, he noted that "[t]his is not just a public health crisis, it is a crisis that will touch every sector -- so every sector and every individual must be involved in the fight." The WHO, which declared the COVID-19 outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) on January 30, 2020, ended the PHEIC on May 5, 2023; whether the outbreak remains a pandemic is the subject of some debate. According to the Wikipedia page on the COVID-19 pandemic, it ranks as the fifth-deadliest pandemic or epidemic in history.
The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound impact on patent practice, as it had for nearly every single industry. The pandemic changed how most of us work, where most of us work, and what many of us work on. Two years after the pandemic was declared, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) noted that "[p]erhaps more than any other time in history, society is seeing and benefiting from the innovation supported by intellectual property." For example, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for Gilead Sciences' remdesivir 123 days after the virus was first detected in a patient sample, granted an EUA for convalescent plasma 237 days after the virus was first detected, granted an EUA for Eli Lilly's antibody treatment 315 days after the virus was first detected, granted an EUA for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine 347 days after the virus was first detected (and then followed with two more EUAs for Moderna's vaccine and Johnson & Johnson's vaccine), and approved Pfizer's antiviral PAXLOVID 723 days after the virus was first detected.
Five years after the WHO declared that the COVID-19 outbreak had become a pandemic, its effects on the global economy and global politics are still being felt.
Additional information regarding the COVID-19 pandemic that has appeared on Patent Docs can be found here:
• "International Trade Commission Issues Report of COVID-19 IP Waiver," November 8, 2023
• ""Zero Draft" of WHO CA+ Released," February 7, 2023
• "WTO TRIPS Council Recommends That General Council Extend Waiver Deadline," December 18, 2022
• "Nine Countries Seek Extension of WTO Waiver to COVID-19 Therapeutics and Diagnostics," December 11, 2022
• "Status of Proposed Extension of TRIPS Waiver in WTO," December 8, 2022
• "C4IP Presents Webinar on COVID Waiver Extension," December 5, 2022
• "Moderna Sues Pfizer and BioNTech over mRNA Vaccine Technology," August 31, 2022
• "U.S. Trade Representative Releases 2022 Special 301 Report," April 28, 2022
• "U.S. Chamber of Commerce Supports House and Senate Legislation Prohibiting Biden Administration from Negotiating Modifications to WTO TRIPS Agreement Without Congressional Authorization," April 24, 2022
• "Senators Send Letter to Commerce Secretary Regarding WTO Waiver Compromise," March 28, 2022
• "The Proposed WTO IP Waiver: Just What Good Can It Do? -- An Analysis," March 24, 2022
• "IP Associations "Concerned" by Reports of TRIPS Waiver Compromise," March 24, 2022
• "More on Leaked WTO COVID-19 Vaccine Patent Waiver Compromise," March 21, 2022
• "Compromise Reportedly Reached on COVID-19 Vaccine Patent Waiver," March 16, 2022
• "Sen. Tillis Writes to U.S. Trade Representative (Again) Regarding TRIPS Waiver," December 12, 2021
• "U.S. Trade Representative Responds to Letters from Senators Regarding TRIPS Waiver," November 14, 2021
• "U.S. Chamber of Commerce Urges Administration to "Double Down" on Global Vaccine Distribution," November 3, 2021
• "Is This the WTO Waiver End Game?" July 25, 2021
• "BIO Declaration on Global Access to COVID-19 Vaccines and Treatments and Role of IP," June 24, 2021
• "GOP Legislators Write in Opposition to Proposed TRIPS Waiver," May 16, 2021
• "Science Does Not Support the Latest COVID Hysteria," May 13, 2021
• "Population of Patents at Risk from Proposed WTO Patent Waiver," May 12, 2021
• "Sen. Daines Urges Biden Administration to Withdraw Support for COVID-19 IP Waiver," May 12, 2021
• "Pfizer CEO Pens Open Letter on COVID-19 Vaccine IP Waiver," May 10, 2021
• "If the Devil of the WTO IP Waiver Is in the Details, What Are the Details?" May 9, 2021
• "The Road to Hell Is Paved with What Everybody Knows," May 6, 2021
• "BIO & IPO Issue Statements on Biden Administration's Support for Proposed WTO Waiver," May 6, 2021
• "Biden Administration Supports Waiver of IP Protection for COVID-19 Vaccines," May 5, 2021
• "Suspending IP Protection: A Bad Idea (That Won't Achieve Its Desired Goals)," April 26, 2021
• "Sen. Tillis Asks Biden Administration to Oppose WTO Waiver Proposal," April 21, 2021
• "IP Organizations Support Continued Opposition to Waiver Proposal," April 5, 2021
• "Evolution of SARS-CoV-2 from Bat to Human Pathogen," March 31, 2021
• "Industry Coalition Supports Continued Efforts to Oppose Waiver Proposal," March 29, 2021
• "Neanderthal Ancestors Can Be Human Guardian Angels for COVID Infection, Too," March 18, 2021
• "BIO and PhRMA Urge Biden Administration to Oppose Proposed WTO TRIPS Waiver," March 11, 2021
• "Do mRNA-based COVID Vaccines Have an Achilles Heel?" January 26, 2021
• "Going from Bad to Worse: Evidence for Neuro-COVID Infections," January 17, 2021
• "USPTO Provides Update on COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program," January 3, 2021
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