How International IP Policy Reconfigured National Politics: An Interview With Prof. Ken Shadlen 11/01/2018 by Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments The recently published book Coalitions and Compliance by Professor Ken Shadlen of the London School of Economics examines how international changes can reconfigure domestic politics. Since the late 1980s, developing countries have been subject to intense pressures regarding intellectual property rights. These pressures have been exceptionally controversial in the area of pharmaceuticals. Historically, fearing the economic and social costs of providing private property rights over knowledge, developing countries did not allow drugs to be patented. Now they must do so, an obligation with significant implications for industrial development and public health. This book analyses different forms of compliance with this new imperative in Latin America, comparing the politics of pharmaceutical patenting in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. The book focuses on two periods of patent politics: initial conflicts over how to introduce drug patents, and then subsequent conflicts over how these new patent systems function. Intellectual Property Watch recently conducted a Q&A with Prof. Shadlen, which appears below.
WHO: New Directors In Leadership Team Selected On Merit First 09/01/2018 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The new World Health Organization director general last month announced a range of officials to serve as programme directors, touting the unusual achievement of naming almost all women to add to an overall women’s majority in the senior leadership of the organisation – a first for the UN. Now after some questions arose over the choice of a Russian official to head up efforts against tuberculosis, the WHO defended its choices as fully merit-based, including in an email to Intellectual Property Watch and its sister publication Global Health Policy News.
WTO Stalemate Concerns Include Non-Violation Complaints, E-Commerce; TRIPS Health Amendment Extended 08/01/2018 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A few weeks after the failure of the World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Buenos Aires to cut deals advancing issues from fisheries to e-commerce, some governments and trade experts around the world are concerned about the WTO’s future. Meanwhile, a couple of intellectual property-related provisions moved ahead after the ministerial without change.
Medicines Patent Pool Launches Search For Next Director 08/01/2018 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A negotiator and fundraiser with extensive experience with the pharmaceutical industry. Those are some of the qualities the next Medicines Patent Pool executive director might have, according to a just-posted job announcement.
WHO’s Revised Work Programme: Evidence-Based Normative Work, Access To Medicines 08/01/2018 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment In a couple of weeks, the World Health Organization will be holding its annual January Executive Board meeting. Delegates will consider the edited version of the draft 13th WHO general programme of work for 2019-2023, published on 5 January. Following comments to the first version of the programme in November, the secretariat produced a more fleshed-out document, emphasizing the WHO’s normative role, in particular evidence-based. The necessity of access to medicines and vaccines has been extended to other products, such as devices and blood products, and mention is made of the WHO Global Strategy and Plan of Action on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property.
Top IP-Watch Stories Of 2017: What Do They Tell Us About Multilateral IP Policy? 04/01/2018 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment What IP-Watch stories were readers reading most in 2017, and what does it say about the state of global intellectual property policy? In this article, we look at the most-trafficked stories of last year, and make a few assumptions. Asia, Europe, trade, health. These were the top targets of interest to readers among our offerings. Interestingly, despite all the sound and fury in Washington, our coverage there was not at the top of the list. Even more interestingly, neither was our extensive and world-leading coverage of the World Intellectual Property Organization.
A Canadian Billionaire’s Mysterious Death And The Effect On Access To Medicines 20/12/2017 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The mysterious death last week of Canadian billionaire Barry Sherman and his wife has raised many questions. For some, one question is what impact it will have on pharmaceutical competition in Canada, as his giant generic medicines company Apotex was seen as making a mark in access to medicines. It was also recalled that the company is the only one to have used an obscure provision of a World Trade Organization intellectual property agreement aimed at making more affordable medicines available in least developed countries.
London Declaration Report Shows Progress But More Needed Against Neglected Tropical Diseases 15/12/2017 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A newly released report by the wide-ranging joint London Declaration initiative to fight neglected tropical diseases shows progress in elimination of diseases and the number of people treated. However, in order to reach universal health coverage, efforts have to be intensified, according to the World Health Organization director general. The pharmaceutical industry, meanwhile, said it is ready to live up to its pledge made five years ago and expand donations programmes.
Former Medicines Patent Pool Head Greg Perry Joins Pharmaceutical Industry 15/12/2017 by Catherine Saez and William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A day after Greg Perry resigned as executive director of the Medicines Patent Pool, the pharmaceutical industry announced today that he will join the Geneva-based International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) as an assistant director general.
Greg Perry Resigns As Director Of Medicines Patent Pool 14/12/2017 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment After nearly five years as the executive director of the Medicines Patent Pool, Greg Perry has stepped down with little notice. [Update: the next day, it was announced that he has joined the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) in Geneva.]
