Original news and analysis on international IP policy
An outside meeting of experts has prepared a report ahead of this month’s gathering of World Health Organization members hoping to agree on new models for financing research and development for diseases lacking adequate market mechanisms and public policies. These include neglected diseases that predominantly affect poor populations unable to pay high prices needed to defray R&D costs under the existing commercial model.
The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) held its 26th assembly this week and elected its new president. He presented the future orientation of the industry group, saying will work on trust-building and needs predictability in the regulatory process, policies that sustain and encourage innovation, and a strong intellectual property system, he said.
In a single voice, public health authorities spoke out about the need to take on the world’s heaviest disease burdens including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular and chronic respiratory diseases. Now negotiations are narrowing in on the specifics of how to prevent and control these diseases, and achieving agreement on some commitments, including those related to medicine availability, could prove more challenging.
A new open-access journal for science, eLife, has released its first collection of research articles.
The first meeting of the World Health Organization member state mechanism to prevent and control so-called substandard, spurious, falsely-labelled, falsified, and counterfeit medical products (SSFFC) will be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina from 19-21 November.
The Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is in the final phases of selecting its next executive director. In the run-up to the decision, the international financing institution is multiplying signs of its good health as it looks to turn a corner after months of major reforms.
Global health needs innovation but also to ensure equitable access for the world population, panellists at a roundtable said last week. At issue is the capacity of the pharmaceutical industry to innovate, and the potential barriers to access in a context of widespread diseases that blur the boundaries between developed and developing countries. Most panellists concluded that governments should hold primary responsibility for the health of their populations.
The World Health Organization advisory group on pandemic influenza preparedness met with pharmaceutical industry representatives, civil society members, and other stakeholders last week to move toward a recommendation on a partnership contribution formula to determine payment modalities for influenza virus sharing.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, Doctors without Borders) today announced the launch of the “Patent Opposition Database,” an online resource to help patient groups or others to oppose wrongful patent applications as a way to ensure access remains open for affordable generic drugs.
Doesn’t it always seem like as soon as you know who covers what at the permanent missions in Geneva, terms end, new assignments begin and you’re left exchanging business cards again? Well, we have it sorted with a substantial (but non-exhaustive) list of delegates responsible for IP issues this year in the world’s centre of diplomacy. Additionally, you’ll find the latest IP people news across national and regional governments, nonprofit organisations, and the private sector.
World Intellectual Property Organization delegates today were unable agree to recommend to the upcoming WIPO General Assembly to convene a high-level treaty negotiation on industrial designs. Work on draft treaty articles demonstrated good spirit, according to the committee chair, but experts could not agree on the timeframe. The committee, meanwhile, reached agreement on further work on the protection of country names, and quietly dropped the role of internet intermediaries in trademark protection from the meeting agenda.
A new report commissioned by international pharmaceutical industry released yesterday offers findings and recommendations based on study of 200 global health partnerships aimed at low- and middle-income countries. The report was released at a panel discussion of a range of health experts who highlighted work to date and upcoming needs in the area of global health partnerships.