Access to Medicines and Intellectual Property: The contribution of the World Health Organization
The topic of intellectual property first appeared in the WHO in 1996 and coincided with the end of the Uruguay Round and the creation of the World Trade Organization. In 1995 the Charles III University of Madrid with the WHO Drugs Action Programme (DAP) organized a conference where Professor Carlos Correa presented a paper entitled “The Uruguay Round and Drugs”. (more…)
Rethinking The R&D Model for Pharmaceutical Products: A Binding Global Convention.
The current incentive-based model of pharmaceutical R&D has failed to make needed medicines available to a large number of people, especially those living in developing countries. This Policy Brief recognizes the urgent need of shifting from the incentive-based model of R&D to a model that effectively promotes not only innovation but more importantly access to medicines, particularly for diseases that disproportionately affect developing countries. (more…)
Rethinking Global Health: A Binding Convention for R&D for Pharmaceutical Products.
This Research Paper is a contribution to the debate and reform process of the WHO to enable it to respond to the health and health policy challenges of the twenty-first century. More specifically, this paper addresses the issue of the pharmaceutical innovation system within the perspective of access to medicines, exploring possible structural changes in the current system. (more…)
The Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health Ten Years Later: The State of Implementation.
The Declaration on the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and Public Health was adopted on 14 November 2001 by the 4th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Meeting at Doha, Qatar. (more…)
Pharmaceutical Innovation, Incremental Patenting and Compulsory Licensing.
Despite the decline in the discovery of new chemical entities for pharmaceutical use, there is a significant proliferation of patents on products and processes that cover minor, incremental innovations. A study conducted in five developing countries – Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, India and South Africa – evidenced a significant proliferation of ‘evergreening’ pharmaceutical patents that can block generic competition and thereby limit access to medicines. (more…)
Global Commission on HIV and the Law: Specialised Submissions (South Centre Part).
The South Centre is pleased to respond to the call for specialist submissions by the Commission on how can the law be used to scale up effective HIV responses and how can the law be a ‘game-changer’. In this submission we explain how intellectual property law and its implementation in national legislation may affect public health and access to medicines, including effective HIV responses. (more…)
The Right to Health and Medicines: The Case of Recent Negotiations on the Global Strategy on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property.
The purpose of this research paper is to describe, above all, a negotiating process which many have described as historical. More than an analysis on the subject of public health and intellectual property, this is an analysis of a negotiating process which could change the course and the nature of an organization such as the WHO. (more…)
Integrating Public Health Concerns into Patent Legislation in Developing Countries
The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) requires all WTO Member countries to adapt their laws to the minimum standards set out in the Agreement, within established transitional periods. Conforming with the Agreement by recognizing or strengthening the protection of pharmaceutical products and processes by intellectual property rights (IPRs) has posed a special challenge for developing countries. The way in which the required legislative reform is made may have a significant impact on public health policies, and particularly on the population’s access to drugs.
This document presents options for the design and implementation of public-health-sensitive patent policies in developing countries. It examines approaches to selected issues in patent law that may help to strike a balance between the public and private interests involved in the protection of health-related inventions, including those of States, patients, and of the suppliers of health-related goods and services. This document has been prepared as part of an initiative aimed at exploring health-related aspects of intellectual property rights that may further the needs of the poor and excluded in developing countries. It is primarily addressed to policy makers and others concerned in the field of public health in developing countries.
Integrating Public Health Concerns into Patent Legislation in Developing Countries
