Category Development

Kenyan AIDS Patients Seek To Overturn Anti-Counterfeiting Law As Unconstitutional

NAIROBI - Three HIV/AIDS patients in Kenya announced Tuesday they will petition the country's Constitutional Court to declare a new anti-counterfeiting act illegal because it could deny them access to generic medicines. The move, which has the support of public health groups across the country, seeks to have the 2008 Anti-Counterfeiting Act made unconstitutional on the grounds that it could rob them of their right to life.

Kenya Pressured To Implement Anti-Counterfeit Law Despite Access Fears

NAIROBI - An influential manufacturers' lobbying group in Kenya is pushing the government to start enforcing an anti-counterfeiting law within weeks, despite fears from public health advocates that the new rules will impede access to generic drugs and set an unwanted precedent in East Africa.

WHO R&D Financing Group To Parse New Ideas, Look For Ways Forward

Perhaps the single most critical issue to resolve in addressing neglected diseases is how to ensure there is money to pay for research and clinical trials, even when the consumer demand is small and its constituents poor. A group of experts under the auspices of the World Health Organization this week is attempting to address the problem.

Kaitlin Mara
June 29, 2009

Prevent Patents Inhibiting Knowledge Diffusion For Green Technology, EU Told

Stringent intellectual property rules could hamper the spread of technology needed to fight climate change, an advisor to European Union policy-makers has warned.

David Cronin
June 26, 2009
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La crise financière présente des opportunités et des risques pour l’innovation verte

LAUSANNE – « Rien ne vaut une bonne crise », si l’on en croit la sagesse populaire. Voilà une formule que les décideurs pourraient reprendre pour inciter le monde à adopter une économie plus verte et davantage fondée sur la connaissance. Telle est la conclusion à laquelle a abouti un groupe de discussion à l’École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EFPL) le 18 juin. La crise financière actuelle et l’éveil des consciences vis-à-vis de la crise écologique sont l’opportunité unique pour l’innovation, notamment l’innovation verte, de prendre les devants de l’économie du futur.

Kaitlin Mara
June 25, 2009

First Result Of Benefit-Sharing Mechanism For FAO Treaty; Push For Farmers’ Rights

Members of a global treaty on plant genetic resources this month announced 11 new projects on biodiversity conservation in research institutions, and financed by a benefit-sharing fund whose sustainability is still in doubt. The group separately acted to better protect farmers’ rights at the national level.

OECD Report: “Creative Destruction,” Innovation Focus Needed In Economic Crisis

As members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) prepare to meet for their annual ministerial meeting in Paris next week, the organisation has issued a report calling for a strategic, innovation-driven response to the economic crisis.

GAVI, Gates Deploy Industry-Favoured Incentive For Vaccines To Poor Countries

Major public health funders have alighted upon an industry-favoured approach of guaranteeing certain prices to industry to make vaccines available to least-developed country markets.

William New
June 12, 2009

Turning Points Ahead For WTO Geographical Indications, Biodiversity?

The coming months could spell changes in the long-running World Trade Organization talks on creating a register for wines and spirits geographical indications and amending WTO rules to better protect biodiversity rights. Developed countries that have been blocking progress on the issues for years may be pushed at a political level, according to some sources.

Kaitlin Mara
June 12, 2009

EU Says GI Products Would Benefit Asian Poor In Renewing IP Assistance

BANGKOK - The European Union told Asian countries Thursday that protecting geographical indications of their products would benefit their poor, rural people as the EU is offering to renew its intellectual property cooperation with regional countries with GI enforcement as a greater element.

UN-Led Commission Sees Needs In Internet Governance, Science, Technology

A commission under the United Nations charged with monitoring progress in improving science and technology in places where access is difficult and capacity to use that access scarce, concluded its recent annual meeting with draft resolutions on internet and society and on development and science. One notes that there is still much work to be done to bridge the ‘digital divide’ that creates disparities in access to information technology and knowledge in the world; the other calls on governments and UN institutions to find innovative ways to support innovative capacity.

Kaitlin Mara
June 8, 2009

Proposed Rules On Public Research In South Africa Stir Debate

Draft rules on intellectual property rights in publicly financed research are stirring significant debate in South Africa between those who say the rules may stifle innovation, breach WHO commitments and be unconstitutional, and others who say concerns are overblown and the measures are needed to boost the country's economy.