Category Health & IP

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.

UN Agencies Encourage Use Of WTO Measures To Lower HIV Medicines Costs

Three United Nations agencies have joined together to explain to their member countries the little-understood but hard-won flexibilities to applying stiff international intellectual property rules. The focus of the new policy brief is on improving access to HIV treatment, and it offers a series of actions for governments and international organisations.

WHO Working Group Gives Guidelines To Fight Bad Medicines; IMPACT In Exile

After three days of intense negotiations on the role of the World Health Organization in the fight against low standard or falsified medicines, delegates provided recommendations for the UN agency. A subject of dissent was the relationship between the WHO and its taskforce against counterfeit medicines, with some countries calling for a suspension of the taskforce’s work, though in the end no consensus was found.

Group Discussion Deepens Over WHO Role In Stopping Poor Quality Medicines

The role of the World Health Organization in the safety, quality and efficacy of medical products is under scrutiny this week by member states and stakeholders. In particular, the focus is on the WHO’s role in the prevention and control of medical products of compromised quality, the organisation’s relationship with the international taskforce against counterfeit products, and the taskforce’s alleged focus on the protection of intellectual property rights rather than on public health issues. In several documents, the WHO tries to explain this fragile role.