Original news and analysis on international IP policy
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.
Next week, the World Health Organization Executive Board will hold its biannual meeting. On the agenda are key subjects such as the WHO reform process, sharing of influenza viruses for R&D, and a controversial framework for the WHO’s engagement with actors such as non-governmental organisations, private entities, and foundations. Also on the agenda is the effort to address the growing microbial resistance to antibiotics, and finding a way to finance research and development for diseases affecting primarily developing countries.
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…
The most-read stories of 2015 on the Intellectual Property Watch website fairly reflected the trends of the year, with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, India’s evolving intellectual property rights policies, European Patent Office patents on conventional vegetables, biologics, 3D printing, and some pop culture issues leading the way.
In the coming weeks, IP-Watch will review in-depth what’s in store for 2016, already underway. But for now, let’s take a look at last year’s highlights.
The force of hundreds of students worldwide has gathered behind an international effort urging governments to promote research and development in a way that does not result in high-priced medicines. The initiative led by Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) seeks to address the longstanding gap in affordable medicines and puts the focus on the World Health Organization, whose members are currently working on this issue.
A United Nations high-level panel of experts has set a process in motion to find solutions to increase access to medicines. Following its first meeting last week, the panel will call for proposals to recommend solutions that can promote innovation, but preserve human rights and public health interests.
Third World Network reports: Philanthropic foundations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the United Nations Foundation have seconded their staffers to top management positions at the World Health Organization.
From the United Nations Millennium Development Goals to the Sustainable Development Goals, what are the main achievements in health and what are the main challenges for the next 15 years? That is the question the World Health Organization sought to answer in a new publication issued yesterday.
A newly issued report provides the “first ever” picture of global investment in Ebola research and development. The report found that investment in Ebola might have come at the expense of other funding to develop drugs, vaccines and diagnostics for other neglected diseases. The report also found that public funding on research and development for neglected diseases was at its lowest in years.
Colombia has a decision to make. A full year has passed from the November 24, 2014 request by iFarma, Misión Salud and CIMUN for a declaration of the public interest regarding the cancer drug imatinib (marketed by Novartis as Gleevec/Glivec), the first step on the path toward a compulsory license in Colombia. Thus far, Colombia’s Ministry of Health and Social Protection has failed to act one way or another, leaving patients in limbo and the government at the mercy of a Swiss pharmaceutical giant that reported revenue of over $57.9 Billion USD in 2013, write James Love and Andrew S. Goldman.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- Having led the successful collaborative testing of an Ebola-vaccine in record time, John-Arne Røttingen of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health now wants to expand the idea to a permanent global financing facility for research and development. And he is optimistic.
The Medicines Patent Pool has signed a collaborative agreement with the University of Liverpool to develop HIV nanomedicines.