WHO Members Mixed On Evaluation Of Director General Election Process 07/06/2017 by Elise De Geyter for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The opinions of the World Health Organization member states on the just-completed election process for a WHO director general showed divisions, according to statements at last week’s meeting of the WHO Executive Board.
Industry, NGOs On Staff At WHO? Beware Of Revolving Doors, Some Say 06/06/2017 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The agreement found last year after months of intense discussion to avert the possibility of undue influence by outside actors at the World Health Organization is yet to be fully implemented. The World Health Assembly last week looked at progress and the process by which the WHO can temporarily welcome on its staff individuals from the private sector, civil society, philanthropic foundations, and academic institutions. Some countries questioned principles in this process but were told by the WHO that their comments would merely be recorded.
World Health Assembly Adopts Resolution Supporting Tax On Tobacco, Alcohol, Sugar 02/06/2017 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Cancer, diabetes, heart disease and chronic respiratory diseases are killing millions of people each year, making noncommunicable diseases the leading global cause of human deaths, many of them premature. This week, the World Health Assembly endorsed an updated set of policy options for countries to help them with the prevention and control of those diseases. On the list is a suggestion for tax increases on tobacco products and alcoholic beverages, and the reduction of salt intake. Supported by many countries, it was resisted by the United States and Italy.
A Summary Of Key IP-Related Actions Taken By The 70th World Health Assembly 31/05/2017 by Catherine Saez and Elise De Geyter for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment After what was described as the biggest World Health Assembly ever, with the highest number of agenda items and the highest attendance, it seemed that all’s well that ends well at the closing ceremony earlier today. A notable fact during this assembly has been the rising volume of voices from developing countries, joined by developed countries on issues related to access to affordable, safe, and efficacious medicines. Resolutions and decisions were adopted, many with hopes of better addressing challenges such as antimicrobial resistance, cancer, substandard and falsified medical products, medicines access and shortages and more.
WHO Asked To Square Its Position On Herbicide; EU Evaluation Seen As Flawed 31/05/2017 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Does glyphosate, better known under its brand name RoundUp, increase the risk of cancer in humans, or not? Yesterday, some World Health Organization members, while hailing a draft resolution on cancer later adopted, underlined a lack of coordination on glysophate between the WHO and its agency for cancer research. Separately, a renowned scientist sent a letter to European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, saying the evaluations on the herbicide are flawed, and should be done again to safeguard public health.
Resolution On Cancer Hailed By WHO Members, Easily Adopted In Committee 31/05/2017 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment It is not a mystery, cancer has been spreading for decades, in particular in low and-middle income countries, and is not stopping its course in the foreseeable future. Members of the World Health Organization in committee yesterday adopted a resolution to improve prevention, diagnostics, treatment, and palliative care for cancer, in statements stripped of controversy.
WHA Committee Bans IP Reference In Substandard And Falsified Medicines 30/05/2017 by Elise De Geyter for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The “delicious acronym SSFFC” – as described by Marie-Paule Kieny, assistant director-general for Health Systems and Innovation at the World Health Organization – will no longer be used by WHO to describe substandard and fake medical products, when a committee’s decision is adopted by the full World Health Assembly tomorrow. And key to this decision is that protection of intellectual property rights is not a competence of the UN health agency.
Challenges Remain For Worldwide Immunization By Vaccination 30/05/2017 by Elise De Geyter for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Even though important milestones in the elimination of rubella and measles have been achieved worldwide, key challenges remain, presenters said during a technical briefing organised by the World Health Organization last week.
Cancer Drugs: Innovation ‘Blackmail’ Leads To Unaffordable Prices, Delinkage Needed, Speakers Say 30/05/2017 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 4 Comments What if you get an aggressive form of breast cancer, and the treatment exists but it is too expensive for you to get? You die. Tragic stories and the possibilities to avert them were centre stage at a panel last week on the margin of the ongoing World Health Assembly. Delinking the cost of research and development from the market prices of medicines was urged by speakers on the panel: representatives of cancer patients, civil society, and the Brazilian deputy ambassador.
Health R&D Still Underfunded – WHO Members Concerned, NGOs Call For More Ambition 29/05/2017 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Hopes of stimulating research and development for diseases affecting primarily poor countries and vulnerable populations, through a strategic work plan at the World Health Organization, are dimmed by the lack of funding. An R&D project on a single-dose malaria cure had to be cut short, while a global observatory for health research and development, recently launched, might be hampered in its progress, according to officials.