Category Development

Pharma Industry Seeks To Bring A Fresh Face To Public Health Policy

The research-based pharmaceutical industry is working to bring a fresh face to the international public health policy arena in Geneva, most recently through a new initiative on technology transfer. Working through the industry’s Geneva-based trade association, the effort to be seen in a more positive light comes after years of doubts about the transparency of its involvement in these issues and could change the tenor of international negotiations.

William New
March 23, 2011

Caribbean IP: Establishing An Arbitral Tribunal For The Region

The use of arbitration across the Caribbean has been largely within the context of trade union disputes and is still something of a novelty in resolving commercial and private disputes in the region, Abiola Inniss writes.

UN Rapporteur On Food Offers Long-Term Answer To Food Crisis: Agroecology

The annual report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, to the sixteenth session of the UN Human Rights Council yesterday is unequivocal. There must be a global agricultural shift toward more productive, environmentally friendly, sustainable modes of production, using natural resources to remediate world hunger, away from industrialised agriculture. In short, the world needs a shift to agroecology.

Canada Considers Amendment To Compulsory Licensing Regime For Medicines Access

The Canadian Parliament is on the verge of amending the nation’s patent regime to make it easier for generic drug companies to provide low-cost HIV medications for developing countries.

Tavengwa Runyowa
March 8, 2011

Panel: Help Needed With IP Implications Of Nagoya Protocol On Genetic Resources

The new international agreement on access and benefit-sharing of genetic resources has many IP implications, according to panellists at an event last week. And at least one United Nations agency is launching an effort to help countries with those IP implications.

Catherine Saez
March 7, 2011

Brazil And The Defence Of Public Health: Do As I Say, Not As I Do

A recent decision issued by Advocacia-Geral da União (Advocacy-General of the Union) restricts the role performed by Anvisa - the National Agency for Health Surveillance - in examining pharmaceutical patent applications. This may represent a huge setback for commitments made by Brazilian government related to the protection of public health, writes Felipe Carvalho.

Pharma Backs Calls For Extension Of TRIPS Deadline For Least-Developed Countries

Developed country pharmaceutical companies today announced their support for an extension of the deadline for poor countries to comply with a global trade agreement on intellectual property rights that would significantly raise their obligations to protect IP. The extension idea has been proposed by the United Kingdom government in a new trade strategy document.

William New
February 10, 2011
1 Comment

New Biodiversity Benefit-Sharing Protocol Relies On National Rules, Experts Say

PARIS - The recently agreed international instrument to facilitate access to genetic resources and the equitable sharing of benefits accrued from those resources opened for signature last week, and the text is already getting mixed reviews from stakeholders.

Catherine Saez
February 7, 2011
1 Comment

Counterfeit Congress Gives Nod To Developing Country Concerns

PARIS - Sustainable development made what some described as a welcome intrusion at the global congress on counterfeiting and piracy during a dedicated session on Wednesday, with discussions on how to conduct enforcement efforts while taking into account developing country specificities.

Catherine Saez
February 4, 2011
4 Comments

WHO R&D Financing Committee Approved With Controversial Industry Expert

World Health Organization members yesterday struck a compromise allowing a Swiss industry representative to sit on a committee selecting proposals for research and developing financing for neglected diseases, disregarding the fact that he is author of one of the proposals. Special safeguards were added to prevent undue influence, but questions remain for some about a conflict of interest.

Catherine Saez
January 22, 2011
4 Comments

WHO Future In Question; Debate Over Industry Representation

A seemingly overworked and impoverished World Health Organization opened its Executive Board session today with calls for reform amid deep concerns about its financial future. Meanwhile, dissension arose over an industry representative named by the WHO secretariat to a new research and development funding working group, sparking the WHO director general to cast doubt on the role of industry in such groups.

Catherine Saez, William New and Catherine Saez, William New
January 17, 2011
3 Comments

Fair Usage In Caribbean Intellectual Property

A panoramic view of the IP situation in the Caribbean would present to the observer a carnival of Olympic size replete with politicians, diplomats, rights advocates, consumer groups, law enforcement, and impotent jurists, all gyrating discordantly to the WIPO band while Caribbean citizens look on, or are pulled or shoved in, writes Abiola Inniss.