Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The Medicines Patent Pool today announced it has struck a licence with MSD, the North American-based Merck pharmaceutical company, to boost access to and innovation on raltegravir, a child-approved HIV medicine. The outcome is particularly significant because it opens options for very young children.
The top bipartisan members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives responsible for trade, legal and intellectual property issues today sent a strongly worded letter to World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Francis Gurry demanding that all WIPO members be permitted to fully participate in an upcoming treaty negotiation and raising concern about the trade and economic impact of currently proposed text. The treaty negotiation among a small group of WIPO members is expected to raise the level of protection of geographical indications, which are a key dividing point between Europe and the United States.
Geographical indications – product names deriving from geographical origin or certain characteristics – are increasingly on the table when trade negotiations include Europeans, who are trying to recover names long used around the world. In a recent stakeholder event for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), both sides of the GI issue made their case.
The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) has announced it will participate in a plan for sharing some of its intellectual property for research royalty-free, making it the first United Kingdom government agency to do so.
The World Health Organization Executive Board this week recommended the extension of an important strategy and plan of action on health, IP and innovation. It also set out steps to resolve questions over evaluation and review of the strategy and plan of action before the annual World Health Assembly in May.
The World Health Organization Executive Board has set a way forward from now to the annual May World Health Assembly for addressing the sensitive issue of drafting a framework for engagement with “non-state actors,” such as industry, foundations, academics and other non-governmental stakeholders.
The World Health Organization Executive Board yesterday adopted a resolution on Ebola, on the eve of today’s opening of its 10-day meeting addressing a broad range of health issues, including several of relevance to the intellectual property and innovation community. Today, Italy requested that member states be involved in the setting of WHO guidelines, raising governance issues, while WHO Director General Margaret Chan called for strong health systems and reform to the WHO structure, and asked for room to move on WHO relations with industry.
Several years ago, the World Intellectual Property Organization set up a project aimed at helping bring together those with intellectual property rights and those with ideas for research to develop medical products for people in need. The project, WIPO Re:Search, has gathered numerous partners and is beginning to look ahead to its next phases, including the possible eventuality of drug development, according to the WIPO secretariat.
Pharmaceutical manufacturer Gilead has given its side to this week's story of the rejection of its patent on a hepatitis C treatment in India, and it insists it will prevail in making its medicines available in India on its terms.
A new industry report explores ways authors, research institutions and publishers are grappling with the increasing move toward open access mandates by governments.