Original news and analysis on international IP policy
NAIROBI, Kenya -- As the budding East African pharmaceutical industry shows clear gains , experts at a pharmaceutical summit in Kenya underlined the sector as key to tackling challenges related to access to essential medicines in the region.
The now-familiar item of intellectual property and innovation is on the agenda for next week’s regular meeting of the intellectual property committee of the World Trade Organization. This time under the item, a range of developed countries have proposed to discuss education and diffusion, and Switzerland has put forward a paper on nurturing a culture of innovation.
Re:Route, a mapping tool that lays out the research and development (R&D) landscape of innovation and financing for medicines, has been launched by the Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM). It is a one-stop place for the alternative biomedical research and development landscape.
The World Intellectual Property Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations, was unique among Geneva-based UN agencies for offering views at both recent meetings of the UN High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines held in Geneva and New York this month. Now WIPO has come under criticism from public health advocates for the views it gave.
In an update on research and development against the Zika virus, the World Health Organization today said several companies are working on diagnostic tools, and two candidate vaccines are being considered. Discussions are ongoing with countries to encourage sharing of samples of the virus with the WHO, and leading organisations and scientific journals signed a declaration yesterday on the sharing of data for public health emergencies.
World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan submitted a report to last week’s Executive Board meeting detailing progress made in establishing a framework for the implementation of a global action plan for prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs – like obesity, cancer, diabetes). The global action plan is to be officially implemented after the United Nations General Assembly comprehensive review of the prevention and control of NCDs in 2018, designed to eventually reduce premature mortality from NCDs by a third in 2030 in accordance with the health-related Sustainable Development Goals.
A high level panel of experts charged by United Nations secretary general to explore solutions to increase innovation and access to medicines in developing countries gave a briefing today to explain the process of the initiative. Intellectual property is often seen as both a barrier to the diffusion of health technologies and an innovation enabler.
During the Executive Board meeting at the World Health Organization this week, member states agreed on committing to the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030. The consensus reached by member states was that direct health development goals such as the continuous effort to rid the world of malaria, HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C are at the forefront of pressing issues. But goals for health and those for related issues should be worked on together as they are mutually beneficial, they said.
A report by an advisory group tasked with helping with the reform of the World Health Organization’s response to outbreaks and emergency situations calls for a unified response from all geographical levels of the organisation. The recommendations raised concern from some, but the WHO director general said she sees consensus.
Response to diseases outbreaks must be changed at the World Health Organization, Director General Margaret Chan told the opening of the Executive Board meeting today. She also called for universal health coverage and the implementation of the international health regulation, and for action in the fight against antimicrobial resistance.
The provisional programme for an international conference on intellectual property and development at World Intellectual Property Organization taking place in April is now available.
By Jahan ‘Harry’ Taubman-Rezakhanlou for Intellectual Property Watch The Medicines Patent Pool today announced its first round of sub-licensing agreements with four generic manufacturers for the production and sale of a generic line of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s daclatasvir to 112 lower-to…