Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The World Health Organization has named veteran health crisis expert Peter Salama of Australia the next head of the Health Emergencies Programme, a high-profile position for the UN agency's leadership against outbreaks and disasters.
A new response plan for a strategic response to the Zika virus has been announced by the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization.
The 28 European Union member governments have concluded next steps for addressing antimicrobial resistance, with a strong emphasis on reducing use of antibiotics in animals, but also including a call for new business models.
Doors to a global medical harmonisation organisation opened to the generic and biosimilar industry, which described it as an historical moment for them. The industry will now be able to sit on the assembly of the international body that joins regulators with the pharmaceutical industry.
Some 800 registered participants gathered for the European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG) in Brussels today to talk about internet privacy, security and access. Besides the topical issues, the opening sessions speakers came back time and again to the discrepancy of theory and practice of the much-belaboured “multi-stakeholder principle.”
The German Constitutional Court today ruled in favour of the “freedom to sample” - or freedom to remix - in a case between the singer/songwriter Sabrina Setlur and the band Kraftwerk.
Medicines for Europe, representing the generic, biosimilar, and medicines in Europe, announced today during a side event at the World Health Assembly, that it joined the Global Campaign to Fight Fake Medicines.
A new initiative seeking to develop new antibiotic treatments is being launched today at the annual World Health Assembly. The Global Antibiotic Research and Development (GARD) is a partnership between the World Health Organization and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi).
The 69th World Health Assembly (WHA) opens today in Geneva, with well over 3,000 participants and a record number of agenda items. For the 12th consecutive year, Intellectual Property Watch has a dedicated team on the ground, bringing you informed, timely reports on the action, on the floor and behind the scenes. Below are some other ways to follow the action as well, including a handy list of Twitter hashtags for the week.
The establishment of the WTO Agreement on TRIPS (Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) and the proliferation of plurilateral, bilateral and regional agreements have significantly contributed to the increasing complexities of the intellectual property system. The emergence of new actors, reflecting conflicting expectations and the adoption of new trade agreements that often exceed the standards set by the TRIPS agreement, have resulted in a new density of rules that have further fragmented the international system. These developments have unavoidably called for further analysis by academics and stakeholders.
From the BBC: Uniform packaging rules for tobacco will be introduced in the United Kingdom on Friday after a legal challenge against the new law was dismissed by the High Court.
[From the Washington Post] BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombia’s government is giving pharmaceutical giant Novartis a few weeks to lower prices on a popular cancer drug or see its monopoly on production of the medicine broken and competition thrown open to generic rivals.