Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Health advocacy groups called on the European Commission yesterday to change the way it funds research and development for new medicines so that innovations can serve a larger public.
An interesting year lies ahead for trade policymakers. With US President Donald Trump sticking to his “America First” announcement pulling back from the Trans-Pacific Partnership right away, a new trade (world) order might be in the making. In every crisis, there is opportunity, Argentinian Trade Minister Susana Malcora said in Davos during the January World Economic Forum (WEF) where the business elite otherwise traded concerns at the beginning of an unpredictable year 2017.
World Health Organization member states seeking solutions for ensuring medicines access have been looking for ways to get a recent controversial report from the UN headquarters on the WHO agenda. The Executive Board this week heard concerns and left open the possibility that it will come up at the annual World Health Assembly in May.
A resolution has been passed by Chile’s Chamber of Deputies, a branch of its National Congress, to encourage the use of compulsory licences to import generic versions of a patented drug when necessary to protect and promote the health of the population.
The Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee of the European Parliament has voted to adopt a draft report on measures to increase availability of medicines within the European Union.
World Health Organisation members tried to agree on a draft resolution on cancer during the WHO Executive Board but consensus escaped them, in particular on intellectual property issues, according to sources. The text is expected to be discussed informally with a view to reaching common language on the remaining issues by the annual World Health Assembly in May.
The World Health Organization Executive Board ended its meeting one day early today, and agreed to have five new institutions to enter into official relation with the organisation, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, despite protests from civil society groups, and Knowledge Ecology International, led by activist firebrand Jamie Love. Meanwhile, the WHO is pursuing the implementation of its framework of engagement with non-governmental actors adopted in 2016. WHO members urged the organisation to speedily provide implementation tools such as a register of all such actors. The WHO said all is on track and is expected to be ready by the next World Health Assembly.
Finding resources to fund research and development for diseases primarily affecting developing and least-developed countries is a continuous challenge. Hopes were raised in 2015 with projects to launch a Global Observatory on Health Research and Development, and a voluntary pooled fund for research and development projects. However, the lack of funding is jeopardizing those initiatives despite some contributions by developed and middle-income countries.
A high-level meeting at the World Trade Organization today welcomed in an amendment to international trade rules for intellectual property aimed at boosting exports of affordable medicines. It also set out the way ahead to make it work.
Cancer is spreading. According to the World Health Organization, the number of new cases of cancer is projected to increase to 21.6 million annually by 2030. The WHO Executive Board this week is considering a draft resolution for actions by the WHO member states and the secretariat. The resolution is being discussed and amended as issues such as the affordability and the accessibility of new cancer medicines, in particular in developing countries, are highlighted by many.
For nearly 30 years, the United Nations World Health Organization has been referring to poor-quality and fake medicines as counterfeit. But that is about to change.
As the World Health Organization Board prepares to consider candidate institutions to be admitted into official relations with the organisation, some health and public interest groups are raising alarm at what they see as a seeming lack of safeguard against conflicts of interest. Particular concern has been raised over admitting the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as an observer because of the Foundation trust’s investments in business ventures such as Coca-Cola, which they see as contrary to health goals. But the Gates Foundation, which is the biggest private donor to the WHO, said the trust is a separate entity from the foundation, and therefore does not represent any conflict of interest.