Global Health Funding Flows As WHO, Gavi, Global Fund Benefit27/03/2018 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a CommentActions by governments in recent days show funding for global health continues to be a priority for some countries. Geneva-based institutions and their programs around the world are among the beneficiaries.
Global Health Governance Changing With Shift In Economic Centre Of Gravity, Speakers Say16/03/2018 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a CommentPolitical and economic shifts have modified the post-war world order, and global health governance has to adapt to this new environment, speakers said at an academic event in Geneva this week. Among the changes: with the decline of United States funding for global health, new actors such as China and India could take leadership roles, they said.
UAEM Students Launch Campaign To Drop Publicly Funded Patent Claim On Cancer Drug In India16/03/2018 by Intellectual Property Watch 2 CommentsThe Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) this week launched a campaign to ask the University of California to drop its pursuit of a patent on the prostrate cancer drug Xtandi in India in order to make it affordable for patients. Xtandi sells at “exorbitant” rates in the United States, they said, a seeming violation of the licensing guidelines of the publicly funded University of California system which guarantees an “appropriate” return on taxpayer investments.
UN Member States Briefed On Innovation And Access To Health Technologies: Part 114/03/2018 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a CommentNEW YORK — A major event on innovation and access to health technologies took place at the United Nations in New York last week, in which UN member states were briefed on ideas and efforts to promote these issues at the forefront of global health policy.
Sir John Sulston, Human Genome Project Leader, Remembered For Words On IP And Health R&D14/03/2018 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a CommentNobel Prize winner Sir John Sulston passed away on 6 March at the age of 75, and was widely remembered in the press and scientific circles, celebrating his research, his wisdom, and his leadership of the landmark Human Genome Project. Intellectual Property Watch recalls his visionary warning and advice a decade ago about the intellectual property system, investment, and science that is still valuable today.
WHO: Access To Hepatitis C Treatment Increasing, But Most Patients Undiagnosed13/03/2018 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 CommentAccess to hepatitis C treatments is increasing, so are therapeutic options, but most of those living with the disease are not diagnosed and thus remain untreated, the World Health Organization found in a new report. Upper-middle income and high-income countries continue to pay high prices, impeding equitable access, and those countries which have been most successful in increasing access have mobilised a strong government response, the report found.
New IP-Sharing Framework To Accelerate R&D12/03/2018 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a CommentPharmaceutical R&D constantly leads to the generation of new intellectual property (IP), from clinical trial data to libraries of promising compounds. Not all IP assets generated by a company are used in their future R&D. When this happens, companies can choose instead to share them with other third-party researchers, under licensing agreements. The Access to Medicine Foundation has worked with BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH) to develop a framework for identifying which IP assets are most difficult for companies to share, yet most likely to speed up R&D of the medicines and vaccines needed by people living in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), write Clarke B. Cole and Katie Graef.
Pharma, Nonprofits Collaborate On Affordable Hepatitis C Treatment In Latin America06/03/2018 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a CommentThe Drugs for Neglected Disease initiative (DNDi), a nonprofit research and development organisation, today announced a collaboration with pharmaceutical companies and other nonprofits to manufacture and supply a “new, more affordable” hepatitis C treatment in Latin America. Hepatitis C medicines have been renowned for their high prices worldwide.
A Look At The Role Of Governments, Universities, Science In Health Innovation & Access05/03/2018 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a CommentIntellectual property rights, particularly patents, are considered by some as being a barrier in access to medicines despite being a stimulus for innovation. At a recent symposium co-organised by the World Health Organization, World Trade Organization and World Intellectual Property Organization, speakers also talked about the role of science, governments, and universities in health innovation and access, and how to address challenges such as secondary patents.
WHO Joint Tropical Disease Program Issues Report On Research Fairness02/03/2018 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a CommentThe World Health Organisation’s Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) has published the first report on research fairness under a new initiative. The report includes an analysis of how TDR manages intellectual property rights in a positive way.
