WTO Members Celebrate Treaty Amendment On Medicines Access, Look Ahead 30/01/2017 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments A high-level meeting at the World Trade Organization today welcomed in an amendment to international trade rules for intellectual property aimed at boosting exports of affordable medicines. It also set out the way ahead to make it work.
WHO Members Negotiate Resolution On Cancer; High Prices In Question 30/01/2017 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 4 Comments Cancer is spreading. According to the World Health Organization, the number of new cases of cancer is projected to increase to 21.6 million annually by 2030. The WHO Executive Board this week is considering a draft resolution for actions by the WHO member states and the secretariat. The resolution is being discussed and amended as issues such as the affordability and the accessibility of new cancer medicines, in particular in developing countries, are highlighted by many.
WHO Board Agrees To Drop The Word ‘Counterfeit’ After 30 Years 30/01/2017 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments For nearly 30 years, the United Nations World Health Organization has been referring to poor-quality and fake medicines as counterfeit. But that is about to change.
Is Gates Foundation, WHO’s Biggest Private Funder, Ineligible To Join WHO? 29/01/2017 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 5 Comments As the World Health Organization Board prepares to consider candidate institutions to be admitted into official relations with the organisation, some health and public interest groups are raising alarm at what they see as a seeming lack of safeguard against conflicts of interest. Particular concern has been raised over admitting the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as an observer because of the Foundation trust’s investments in business ventures such as Coca-Cola, which they see as contrary to health goals. But the Gates Foundation, which is the biggest private donor to the WHO, said the trust is a separate entity from the foundation, and therefore does not represent any conflict of interest.
Virus Genetic Information Hot Topic At WHO; Flu Framework Under Nagoya Needs More Time 29/01/2017 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 5 Comments World Health Organization members decided more consideration is needed to address the genetic information of flu viruses in the organisation’s pandemic framework, and the suggestion to have the framework considered as a special instrument under the Nagoya Protocol on access and benefit sharing of genetic resources.
WHO, Netherlands To Hold Fair Drug Pricing Forum In May 27/01/2017 by Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments The World Health Organization and The Netherlands government will co-host a meeting in the spring that brings experts together to look at high drug prices and the purchasing of medicines.
US Army Extends Comment Period On Proposed Exclusive Zika Licence 27/01/2017 by Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments The US Army has extended the comment period on the proposed licence to pharmaceutical company Sanofi on technology necessary to create a vaccine for the Zika virus. This is the second extension, and will permit public comments through 10 March 2017.
Antimicrobial Resistance At WHO: Accelerating National Plans, Ensuring Accessibility 27/01/2017 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The rising threat of “super bugs,” bacteria resistant to existing antibiotics, was in discussion at the World Health Organization this week. Concerns were voiced about the slow pace of national action plan implementation to improve the careful use of antibiotics. Meanwhile some developing countries and civil society called for priority to be given to accessibility and affordability to new antibiotics.
WHO Fine-Tunes Work On Epidemics In Debates On IHRs, R&D Blueprint 27/01/2017 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments The Ebola outbreak spurred actions from the World Health Organization in terms of how to deal with emergencies and also getting medicines and vaccines to patients in emergency situations. The secretariat presented an implementation plan for the International Health Regulations, and a report on its recent blueprint on research and development for potentially epidemic diseases at its Executive Board meeting this week. The United States sought to limit the scope of WHO’s work on R&D in this context.
WHO Director General Candidates Hold Colorful Meeting With The Press 26/01/2017 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments The three remaining candidates to be director general of the World Health Organization today met at length with UN journalists in the WHO and highlighted their plans for reform including finding new sources of funding for the continually cash-strapped UN agency that now could face threats from the US president to cut US funding.