More than a year after Joe Biden announced his support for a waiver of intellectual-property rules to supply cheap vaccines to most of the world’s people, the process remains blocked. The European Union is still siding with the drug companies, and the U.S. has not followed through on Biden’s pledge. The issue comes to a head next week in Geneva, at the Ministerial Conference of World Trade Organization member nations beginning Sunday, June 12.

Under the 1995 WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (known as TRIPS), countries that do not protect trademark, patent, and copyright rights of global corporations can face economically disabling sanctions. TRIPS, however, does allow countries to license local production of drugs in public-health emergencies. But in practice, this requires the support of the EU and the U.S.

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In March, a draft TRIPS waiver promoted by Okonjo-Iweala was leaked. It supposedly had the support of the four major negotiating parties—the EU, U.S., India, and South Africa. In fact, only the EU endorsed it.

When no country would submit it as their own, the rump text was offered on May 3 by Okonjo-Iweala as a substitute for the waiver proposal formally sponsored by 67 WTO member nations. After almost two years, negotiations finally started, but on a text that would not result in more vaccines being made or more access to the most effective mRNA shots. It does not cover treatments and tests at all. And it would roll back some existing if extremely limited WTO flexibilities that authorize countries to license generic production.

“The text represents the least common denominator of EU fealty to Big Pharma, in that it does not waive intellectual-property barriers,” according to Lori Wallach, director of Rethink Trade at the American Economic Liberties Project.

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