Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Patents and public health are sometimes seen as a mismatch, but three prominent international organisations today stepped up their collaboration on ways to facilitate access to medicines by making a better use of the patent system. Effective, reliable and transparent information on patents is necessary to help decision-makers take the best public health approaches for global health coverage, panellists said.
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.
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.
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.
PARIS - The rise of counterfeiting and global economic difficulties combined to sap resources devoted to intellectual property enforcement, said panellists at an event highlighting the fight against counterfeiting and piracy yesterday, and discussed innovative solutions. Meanwhile a civil society group said enforcement of IP rights is a false solution to substandard medicines.
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.
The Executive Board session of the World Health Organization ended early on Monday after a week of discussions that settled some issues but left some others for the next governing meeting of the organisation in May, with much to do until then. The WHO is facing a significant gap in its budget and a programme of reforms is brewing.
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.
World Health Organization members today raised strong concerns that a working group they mandated last May to address problems with WHO policy on counterfeit and substandard medicines has yet to be formed - with four months remaining before it must report back to members.
One delegation called for a halt to WHO activities on anti-counterfeiting until the outcome of the working group is accepted by member states.
With the World Health Organization director general’s term of office ending next year, WHO members today set up a drafting group to try to reconcile divergent views on the process leading to the election. Some countries are in favour of a principle of geographical rotation - citing over 60 years of no representation from their regions, while some other countries claimed rotation could override more important selection criteria such as expertise and experience, and could endanger the organisation’s future.
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.
The Digital Agenda's hoped-for role as a key growth driver for Europe’s flagging economy has pushed intellectual property issues into a high-priority spot on the EU’s policy agenda for 2011. In an effort to boost job creation and innovation, the European Commission is looking to improve online content licensing, access and protection. And despite continuing opposition from several countries, the long-awaited European patent is finally moving forward. Debate is also heating up on new ways to encourage biomedical innovation, and on a proposed EU-India free trade pact.