Category WHO

WHO, WTO, WIPO Heads Call For More Medical Innovation

The leaders of three top international organisations in Geneva last week discussed synergies in public health and called for increased collaboration and creativity to move medical innovation out of its quagmire of inefficiency. The opening session was marked by the head of the World Health Organization urging stakeholders to develop mechanisms to separate drug prices from costs of research and development. And the head of the GAVI Alliance, in the keynote address, discussed how patent thickets could impede access to vaccines.

Special Feature: A Look At Product Development Partnerships And Innovation For Neglected Diseases

An analysis of available information indicates that research-oriented product development partnerships (PDPs) are seen as providing a better approach to neglected diseases than most other public-private partnerships. Yet, in spite of many positive results, PDPs still have a limited impact in developing countries.

Tiphaine Nunzia Caulier
July 3, 2013

MSF: Prices On Latest ARV Drugs Under Patent Too High

The price of first- and second-line anti-retrovirals (ARVs) have declined due to increased generic competition, while third-line regimens remain “exorbitantly priced,” according to the latest edition of a publication from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

Brittany Ngo
July 2, 2013

WHO Issues Guidelines To Push HIV Epidemic Into “Irreversible Decline”

The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued new recommendations that call for earlier HIV treatment with antiretroviral therapy (ART) in an effort to keep HIV patients healthier for a longer period of time.

Brittany Ngo
June 30, 2013

Medicines Patent Pool Signs New Licence Agreements

The Medicines Patent Pool, Shilpa Medicare, and Gilead Sciences have signed an agreement to increase access to HIV treatment medicines. The agreement will allow Shilpa Medicare to manufacture “five key HIV medicines for sale in 100-112 countries,” and the goal is to cover “a majority of people living with HIV.”

Brittany Ngo
June 26, 2013
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UNAIDS Reports Sharp Drop In New HIV Infections In Some African Countries

Since 2009, seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa have reduced new HIV infections among children by 50 percent, and others have made significant progress, according to a new report by UNAIDS. But efforts in some countries have stalled, it said.

Brittany Ngo
June 26, 2013

WHO Wrestles With Engagement Of “Non-State Actors”

The World Health Organization is undergoing major reform including working to stabilise its fiscal future, and members are trying to set out careful terms for working with and receiving support from entities referred to as non-state actors, such as private foundations and organisations.

Brittany Ngo
June 25, 2013

WHO Restructures Medicines Department, Including Innovation, Policy

This summer through September, a restructuring is taking place under the World Health Organization Health Systems and Innovation cluster that has relevance for intellectual property and innovation issues.

Brittany Ngo
June 24, 2013

The Impact Of Derailing The WHO Medical R&D Convention

An article in the newly launched Journal of Health Diplomacy about the stalled progress at the World Health Organization for a medical research and development (R&D) convention discusses systemic failures in global health policy.

Brittany Ngo
June 19, 2013
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WIPO Seminar Discusses Impact Of TRIPS On Pharmaceutical Innovation

The latest instalment of the World Intellectual Property Organization seminar series titled “The Economics of Intellectual Property” covered the issue of product patents in the pharmaceutical industry. Discussion focussed on the economics of intellectual property rights and how pharmaceutical patent protection might not be the sole culprit in the access to innovation problem.

Brittany Ngo
June 19, 2013

Group Of Experts Looks At High Price Of Cancer Drugs

Prices of cancer drugs must be lowered to be affordable for patients and to maintain sound long-term healthcare policies, according to a group of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) experts in a recent Blood journal editorial.

Brittany Ngo
June 17, 2013

WIPO-WTO-WHO Joint Symposium On Medical Innovation In July

Three Geneva-based international organisations are continuing their collaboration on issues of health and innovation policy as it cuts across intellectual property rights by planning a 5 July symposium on "changing business models" in medical innovation.

William New
June 14, 2013