Category WHO

Confidential Documents From WHO R&D Finance Group, Industry, Raise Concern

Confidential documents related to the World Health Organization Expert Working Group on innovative financing for research and development surfaced today, revealing the group’s thinking as well as pharmaceutical industry thinking about the WHO process. The documents immediately raised concern about possible undue access to the process by industry, but the WHO told Intellectual Property Watch the industry group was not supposed to have them.

Industry Intellectual Property Enforcers Named To New Posts

The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) today announced the appointment of a new director of intellectual property and trade, effective 7 December. Meanwhile, in the United States, new coordinator for IP enforcement has been cleared.

HIV/AIDS Treatment Access Policies: Emerging Incentives for Pro-Poor Changes to IP?

dionisio-daniele1Daniele Dionisio argues some perspectives on health and IP might change now that controversial practices at the WTO, World Bank and IMF are increasingly under pressure, and that new government policy choices and actors on the world chessboard are emerging.

WHO Neglected Disease R&D Finance Group Nears Recommendations

An expert working group on innovative financing for research and development, meeting under the auspices of the World Health Organization, held its third and final meeting last week, with a report from the secretive group expected to be released to member states in the coming weeks, according to sources.

Pharmaceutical Patent Pools Seen As A Life And Death Matter In Kenya

NAIROBI - At the headquarters of UNITAID and other groups seeking to boost access to HIV/AIDS medicine, the notion of a patent pool where drug companies would combine their intellectual property is seen as an important way to drive down drug costs.

In the Kenyan capital Nairobi, home of AIDS activist Nelson Otwoma, the patent pool is a matter of life and death.

الوصول إلى الدواء الآمن قضية صحة عامة, ليس ملكية فكرية, على حد تعبير المشاركين.

قد تعيق مبادرات مكافحة التزييف الوصول إلى الأدوية لكنها لا تخفف مشكلة العقارات المزيفة، خصوصاً في الدول النامية، وذلك بحسب ما قاله الأعضاء المشاركون في حدث نظم مؤخراً من قبل معهد المجتمع المفتوح.

Disagreements Remain In WHO Talks On Virus-Sharing After Chan Proposal

World Health Organization members this week offered views on the global system for virus- and benefit-sharing for pandemic influenza following recently proposed solutions by Director General Margaret Chan aimed at changing the current, ad-hoc model to a more predictable, sustainably-funded system.

ECOSOC Calls For Intensified Efforts On Public Health And Use Of TRIPS Flexibilities

The United Nations Economic and Social Council, a key coordinating body meeting this summer in Geneva, is considering ways to move nations faster toward global public health goals, with a warning from developing countries that intellectual property rights should not interfere with access to medical products and innovation.

Conference May Boost WIPO Mandate On Food Security, Public Health

A conference at the World Intellectual Property Organization exploring and clarifying the connection between its work and several major public policy issues ended Tuesday with a look at public health and food security.