Julia Fraser

Julia Fraser

  • Articles: 54

WHO Guidelines May Help With Price Reductions For Hepatitis C Drugs

Guidelines for the treatment of hepatitis C released by the World Health Organization today recommend revolutionary new drugs for the virus. However, the exorbitant price of these drugs means they will remain out of reach for most of the millions infected. The WHO guidelines themselves offer limited recommendation for reducing prices, but may help in creating the conditions for price reduction by accruing demand and giving countries official backing in price negotiations.

Book Analyses Chinese IP And Technology Laws

The recently published book “Chinese Intellectual Property and Technology Laws” provides the “first” overview of Chinese IP and technology law, supported by extensive legal, historical and socioeconomic background to developments in these areas.

Alternative Therapies, Incentive Models Eyed For Antibiotic Resistance

As bacteria become more and more resistant to existing medicines, product pipelines are drying up. A solution may lie in a forgotten therapy developed in 1917, the use of which has been restricted to certain parts of Eastern Europe ever since the discovery and universal use of antibiotics. But business models and intellectual property regimes need to change to provide incentives for research and development in this area.

WIPO Trademark Committee Opens With Firm Positions On Design Treaty

At the outset of this week’s World Intellectual Property Organization trademark committee meeting, several member states cited a pressing need to move forward in preparing recommendations for a treaty on industrial designs. Others maintained firm positions on the unresolved issue of keeping a provision on technical assistance to developing countries as part of the treaty text.

Interview With Hans Hogerzeil: Recognising Good Practices Of Pharma

The issue of medicines access for low-income people in developing countries has been of major concern to global health policymakers for years. A key issue is the inability of northern pharmaceutical producers to develop and distribute affordable medicines and recover their research and development costs.

As part of the effort to address this, a non-governmental group was formed in coordination with industry and other stakeholders to develop an index to rate companies’ efforts to ameliorate the situation.

Julia Fraser for Intellectual Property Watch recently sat down with Hans Hogerzeil, a former senior World Health Organization official and a top strategist for the Access to Medicine Index, to discuss the index’s impact, independence and the future.