World Health Assembly: Panels Discuss Diagnostics, Surveillance, R&D Models For Antibiotic Resistance
Multiple stakeholders are pushing for a World Health Organization-led global action plan to curb antimicrobial resistance.
Intellectual Property Watch
Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Julia Fraser
BRICS Ministers Join Forces For Access To Medicines
At a side event to the opening of the 2014 World Health Assembly, strong statements were made by BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) country ministers and representatives to assume leadership and cooperate to tackle the issue of inaccessibility to affordable medicines in theirs and developing countries.
WHO Report Compares Prices, IP Status Of HIV Treatment In Middle-Income Countries
A new report from the World Health Organization concludes that prices of HIV treatments vary greatly between middle-income countries (MICs), often depending on patent landscape, licensing agreements, whether drugs were sourced from originator companies, and regulatory approval. For third-line treatments, the price of drugs remains a challenge for all, with newer products more likely to be patented in key countries of production.
IP-Watch Subscribers – Updated List Of IP Delegates In Geneva
The Geneva IP delegates list is updated! As a special feature for our subscribers, Intellectual Property Watch has assembled a new list of many of the leading government delegates working on intellectual property issues in Geneva.
Special Report – Students To Universities: “We Have A Drug Problem”
BASEL -- Students from around the world are gathering momentum to challenge their universities’ licensing policies and research and development systems. That was one of the messages emerging from the annual meeting of Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) Europe.
Panel: Good Governance Is Key To Achieving Global Health Goals
As the future United Nations development goals are being debated and decided, two important reports make the case for inclusion of a discussion on global governance and its impact on health.
Digitisation Projects For Orphan And Out-Of-Commerce Works Presented At WIPO
Digitisation of copyrighted works is in growing demand, and books are increasingly being made widely available in digital form. Two forms of works however - orphan and out-of-commerce works - are in danger of missing out, said speakers at a recent World Intellectual Property Organization event, and there is a risk of forever losing an important part of our cultural heritage embedded in these works. Another panel, meanwhile, illustrated that laws on copyright and licensing also present obstacles to cross-border use of digitised works by universities, libraries and archives.
Soft Law Presented At WIPO As A Solution In International Copyright Law
A presentation of the Tunis Model Law this week at a World Intellectual Property Organization side event addressed how it could be updated and used as a tool to help developing countries implement new developments in international copyright-related law.
UN Climate Change Report Assesses Options For Technology And IP Policy
The latest United Nations report on climate change offers advice for international and national intellectual property policies relating to climate change mitigation technology. Although strong IP rights may foster green technology development and transfer in developed countries, there is a lack of evidence to support IP strengthening in developing countries, it concludes.
Special Report: One Year On At The Medicines Patent Pool: Interview With Greg Perry
Greg Perry has been executive director of the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) for over a year now, since January 2013. Under his guidance, MPP shares that it has launched a “series of new licensing agreements and negotiations with key patent holders and generic medicines companies.” Intellectual Property Watch sat down with Perry recently to discuss why the MPP is so important as an alternative business model, the context of the MPP, changes in the global approach to the issue of access, and how the MPP fits within the Geneva context.
Geneva Health Forum Covers Wide Range Of Policy Issues
Non-communicable diseases, access and affordability, global health governance and information and communications technology innovation are some of the important issues discussed and debated at the recent Geneva Health Forum (GHF).
Geneva Health Forum Meets To Discuss Solutions To Common Problems
The Geneva Health Forum (GHF), taking place on 15-17 April in Geneva, will discuss the theme “Global Health: Interconnected Challenges, Integrated Solutions.” This year’s forum aims to encourage an “integrative approach” to global health, “which better captures the underlying causes of ill-health and recognises the commonalities that underlie people’s health around the world,” says GHF.