The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has said the bloc is "ready to discuss" a US-backed proposal for a waiver on the patents for Covid-19 vaccines and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said he was "absolutely in favour" of the plan as pressure built for a move that could boost their production and distribution around the world.
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Macron's support for the US move marked a shift for France, which had previously argued that a patent waiver would discourage innovation.The German foreign minister, Heiko Maas, said Berlin too was open to discussion.
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Some ministers in the UK were concerned that because of legal difficulties, precedents and the threat to innovation, only voluntary agreements with the pharmaceutical firms would work.
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