Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Responsibility to take forward a still in-progress framework to cope with global influenza pandemics is now in the hands of the World Health Organization Director General Margaret Chan, member states agreed in a meeting Thursday. This was approved by the full World Health Assembly on Friday.
Applause broke out at the annual World Health Assembly Friday as agreement was reached at the end of a five-year process to devise a plan for boosting research and development on and access to drugs needed by developing countries. Now with the full assembly's approval, the focus will turn to implementation and as-yet unclear ways to pay for it.
Some five years after setting a mandate to address barriers faced by poor countries in accessing needed medicines, World Health Organization members are near agreement on a strategy and plan of action. But a key question remains on WHO involvement in a possible treaty on biomedical research and development for diseases disproportionately affecting developing nations, and the WHO secretariat is facing accusations that the process has not been amply inclusive.
Access to knowledge is a future challenge and a key factor for social and economic development but a balance needs to be found between the interests of rights holders and those of the public, said speakers at a high panel on access to knowledge during the World Summit on the Information Society Forum on Monday.
As the world looks to the World Health Assembly for a plan of action in case of pandemic, delegates are negotiating remaining parts of a framework for pandemic influenza preparedness, and an associated model agreement for the movement of virus and vaccine-related materials.
A procedural agreement might come as early as Tuesday afternoon, but it remains to be seen whether agreement can be reached on how to handle uncompleted work.
A series of meetings intended to set out a global framework for dealing with a potential pandemic completed its last session Saturday night with progress made but several essential issues still uncompleted.
As cases of swine flu in humans pile up and fears that a more serious outbreak could occur in the future, member states, drug manufacturers and public health advocates gather Friday and Saturday to see if they can come up with a way to facilitate sharing of both viruses and vaccine related materials.
Intellectual property laws are a key point of contention at the reconvened meeting.
The French Senate’s vote on Wednesday sealed the adoption by the Parliament of the controversial French HADOPI law creating a graduated punishment mechanism for alleged copyright infringement on the internet.
Word is out among Geneva diplomats that seven officials have been informally proposed to be the next cabinet of World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Francis Gurry.
World Intellectual Property Organization members on Friday overcame anxiety about overreaching of the UN body and agreed to study the Patent Cooperation Treaty, including proposals aimed at improving the efficiency and implementation of the treaty, taking into account some members’ concerns.