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
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New WHO Document On Neglected Disease R&D Model Projects
A new document on efforts to find innovative financing for neglected diseases has been made available today at the World Health Assembly.
Role Of Industry, NGOs, Foundations At WHO Under Intense Debate
A proposal to increase the engagement of “non-state actors” - industry, nongovernmental organisations, foundations and academics - in the activities of the World Health Organization is under intense debate at the annual World Health Assembly this week.
Author Interview: “Emerging Markets And The World Patent Order”
"Emerging Markets and the World Patent Order" is a new book that looks at patent system implementation in emerging market and developing countries, and the response to this implementation by Europe and the United States. Florida State University Law Prof. Frederick Abbott, one of the organisers and editors of the book, recently discussed the book with Intellectual Property Watch
Sanofi-WHO Partnership Could Eliminate Sleeping Sickness By 2020
A side event to this week’s World Health Assembly highlighted progress being made in a public-private partnership on the elimination of sleeping sickness, a disease that occurs in some developing countries.
Gates Foundation Echoes WHO Concern Over Medicines Access In Trade Deals
Melinda Gates of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation addressed the World Health Assembly today, highlighting a new initiative on newborns. And at a press conference earlier in the day, a senior colleague signalled support for WHO Director General Margaret Chan’s strong concern yesterday about possible negative effects of free trade agreements on access to affordable medicines.
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.
Committee On WIPO Standards Stumbles Over Development Agenda
The World Intellectual Property Organization technical committee working on standards to facilitate work of intellectual property offices and their communication had to adjourn its fourth session last week for lack of agreement on the committee’s relationship to the 2007 Development Agenda of the organisation.
Independent Review Of WIPO Development Up For Debate
The World Intellectual Property Organization Committee on Development and Intellectual Property opened this week with a loaded agenda and some politically-charged issues. One of them is an independent assessment of the mandated mainstreaming of a development dimension into the activities of the UN organisation.
US High Court Opens Door To More (And Older) Copyright Suits
Music, movie, and television companies suffered a major defeat yesterday, when the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The ruling will lead to a flood of new copyright infringement suits against these content companies, according to many experts. And content companies may not be the only losers.
UNDP Report Promotes Competition Law To Boost Access To Medicines
The United Nations Development Programme has launched a new publication on the use of competition law to promote access to health technologies. The guidebook describes competition law as an underused tool to be harnessed by developing countries and is designed to help them proficiently using it.
WHO Director Chan Stresses Polio, Inequity, Climate, Junk Food, Supremacy Of Health Over Economic Interests
World Health Organization Director General Margaret Chan opened the annual World Health Assembly today with strong calls to address a wide range of top health concerns across the world. This included a call for the global health community to work to assert the primacy of health concerns over economic interests.