Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Today, member states in committee at the World Health Assembly adopted the first global plan of action to address the issue of antimicrobial resistance, and a global plan of action on vaccines. In addition, a mechanism on public health, innovation and intellectual property was postponed until 2022, and a deadline for its evaluation moved to 2018.
The problem of drug prices eating up national health budgets has been coming up at the annual World Health Assembly. Last week, a panel of experts discussed the merits of lowering those prices by delinking research and development costs from pricing.
[Update: the new Act has been adopted. More to come.] After a week of drafting, a handful of World Intellectual Property Organization members – with often divergent input from other WIPO members – are close to concluding a new international agreement on the protection of geographical indications.
From the New Minute: The Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Dr. Margaret Chan has invited the private sector, civil society and academia among others, to join a dialogue on how non-state players can work with the global body to enhance public health work. A leading voice in this configuration is the United States-based Global Health Council (GHC) whose strong and spirited response to the invitation has set the cat among the pigeons in some countries (including reportedly with India) and certain sections of non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
An assessment of the World Health Organization Global Vaccine Action Plan aimed at delivering vaccination to all and boosting research into new vaccines found implementation to be “far off-track” in some areas. Today at the World Health Assembly, Libya put forward a new proposal at the Assembly to reduce vaccine prices and increase availability in developing countries.
“The Ebola outbreak shook this organization to its core,” World Health Organization Director General Margaret Chan said in opening the WHO’s annual assembly today. And the need to better construct the world’s emergency response systems has the biggest economies on the podium, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaking as chair of the Group of 7.
The World Health Organization is working to learn from the fast response on research and development for Ebola that led to effective treatments in a short time. It hopes that this changes the way R&D for emergency vaccines is done forever.
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has announced it has dismissed challenges by Spain against the European Union unitary patent package, ostensibly clearing the way for an EU patent to go into effect next year.
From 8-22 May, US online search giant Google will open a streamlined portal for patent owners to let Google know about patents they are willing to sell at a price they set.
the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) provided its recommendations on how to slow down antimicrobial resistance and boost antibiotic research and development. In addition, the association organised a forum on the subject today.
In Chile, pharmaceutical patents are almost exclusively the domain of foreign companies. Only a subset of drugs is protected by patents, while a much larger number of products is protected by trademarks, a study finds, offering for the first time empirical evidence on the use of primary and secondary patents in Chile.
Participation in global value chains contributes to economic growth, while trade and trade-related policies, such as foreign direct investment, intellectual property protection, trade facilitation, infrastructure and institutions, together with deeper regional integration have important impacts on global value chain integration in developing countries. This was the view of speakers at a recent event in Geneva.