Category Health Policy Watch

Medicines Vastly Overpriced, Generics Too: Discussion At WTO-WIPO-WHO Symposium

The price of hepatitis C medicine marked a turning point in the discussion on access to medicines, with developed countries suddenly confronted to prices they could not afford. This week, a symposium jointly organised by the World Health Organization, the World Trade Organization, and the World Intellectual Property Organization explored the question of the pricing of medicines. A number of suggestions were made to alleviate the issue, such as ensuring wide use of generic medicines, encouraging competition, and alerting countries about the cost of medicine production so they negotiate better with pharmaceutical companies.

Video Gaming Industry Issues Attack On WHO’s Proposed Gaming Disorder Classification

Teens' (and others') life-altering obsession with video gaming is well-known to almost any parent in most countries around the world, and the World Health Organization recently identified it as an addiction called "gaming disorder." Today, the self-acclaimed $36 billion video gaming industry hit back with a statement about a new paper from "preeminent researchers and scientists" that it says casts doubt on the WHO's efforts.

WTO, WHO, WIPO Heads Share Views On Innovation And Access At Trilateral Symposium

How to encourage health innovations and make sure that new medicines, vaccines, or diagnostics will reach every person who needs them? That is a question which has been hotly debated in different fora. Yesterday, the World Trade Organization, UN World Health Organization, and UN World Intellectual Property Organization jointly held a symposium on how innovative technologies can promote the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The WHO director general called on his colleagues to support policies facilitating access to health technologies.

Wellcome Trust Report Recommends UK-EU Agreement On Research & Innovation

The Wellcome Trust, the London-based biomedical research charity, has issued recommendations for improved scientific collaboration after Brexit, including to establish a formal agreement on research and innovation. This includes continued leadership by the UK on open research, and might include expanding the UK patent box scheme, it says.

Swiss Panel Looks At Value-Based Drug Pricing, Link Between R&D And Prices

Some products are too cheap, generic drug companies do not invest in them because they do not make enough money out of them. Others seem astronomically expensive, and are said to include the costs of all research, successes and failures alike. Panellists at a recent Swiss-organised expert event in Bern concurred that something must done about pricing, and explored some surprising ways to do it.

WHO Names High-Profile Commission On Non-Communicable Diseases

The World Health Organization today announced a new high-level commission of heads of state, ministers and other leaders in health and development to come up with "bold and innovative solutions" against non-communicable diseases such as heart and respiratory diseases, cancers and diabetes. The chairs of the commission include the presidents of Uruguay, Sri Lanka, and Finland, the Russian health minister, and a former minister of Pakistan who was a candidate for director general of the WHO. They are joined by nearly two dozen others, including corporate public figures Michael Bloomberg and Jack Ma.

Indian Pharma Industry Disputes US Industry IP Index

The United States Chamber of Commerce industry group recently issued its annual global IP index, analysing intellectual property protection in 50 countries, as a prelude to the annual US government list of countries seen as not adequately protection US companies' IP rights. Now an Indian industry group has issued a counter-statement to the Chamber index, calling it a "tirade" and "self-serving".

CARB-X Announces First Award Of 2018; Seeks Partners For Antibacterial Research

CARB-X, the private-public partnership for research on antimicrobial resistance, today announced its first award of 2018, nearly $2 million for the development of a new class of antibiotics. Meanwhile, the group has announced it is seeking to partner with accelerator organisations to build its pipeline of early development research projects. It also announced a study that called for a new global approach and greater financial incentives for antibiotic research.