Original news and analysis on international IP policy
By Catherine Saez
PARIS - Biotechnology is in dire need of a change to its business model, restoring trust among all actors and building partnerships, according to participants in a recent seminar here. After nearly thirty years, the industry still is not making profits, the field seems to be running out of steam, and controversies over patents in the health and agriculture areas have influenced public opinion, they said.
By Kaitlin Mara Ministers of health, science and technology, and social development met this week with scientific researchers and representatives from foundations, the private sector and civil society to discuss the future of research for health on diseases disproportionately affecting…
By Kaitlin Mara The World Health Organization has released a long-awaited list of high-level experts tasked with finding innovative funding mechanisms for needed medical research on neglected diseases. The list largely contains governmental and intergovernmental representatives, and first reactions to…
By Claudia Jurberg for Intellectual Property Watch RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Health Minister José Gomes Temporão and the President of Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Paulo Buss, recently inaugurated an office of the foundation in…
By Liza Porteus Viana for Intellectual Property Watch WASHINGTON, DC – There is a growing backlash against intellectual property rights and international rules aimed at protecting innovation and ideas in certain parts of the globe, several pharmaceutical and other innovator…
A much-heralded 2003 waiver to World Trade Organization intellectual property rules aimed at helping poor countries receive needed medicines they cannot produce themselves has brought little if any help five years later, according to governments and public health advocates. The…
By Liza Porteus Viana for Intellectual Property Watch In the waning days of this congressional session in the United States, US lawmakers are passing a flurry of intellectual property-related bills. One of the bills awaiting President Bush’s signature would create…
By Liza Porteus Viana for Intellectual Property Watch
When the new administration and Congress come into office following the November elections in the United States, the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries will prioritise protection of their intellectual property and innovative biological drugs as the push for cheaper, generic versions gets stronger. Patent reform also will continue to be a lobbying priority, as well as making sure intellectual property is protected in any forthcoming international trade agreements.
By Kaitlin Mara Work is ongoing within the World Health Organization on a member-mandated global strategy on public health, innovation and intellectual property, a WHO official said Tuesday. But little information about that work has been forthcoming since the strategy…
By Kaitlin Mara
As more companies embrace environmental sustainability as an essential part of business strategy, policymakers have been questioning what they can do to create a policy environment conducive to green business. Intellectual Property Watch spoke to several green business professionals to get their view on the IP policy environments in which they work.