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.
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.
US Could Agree To Slight Funding Increase At WHO Despite Trump Threats 26/01/2017 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 5 Comments President Donald Trump’s promise to cut US funding to United Nations agencies has sent shock waves around the UN, but in a budget discussion at the World Health Organization Executive Board meeting today, the US delegation did not reject outright a call by WHO to increase government contributions to the organisation. Meanwhile, the WHO budget shows a deficit and many WHO members asked the WHO how it plans to remedy the situation and find solutions to reach financial sustainability.
Year Ahead: Copyright Issues Rank High On EU To-Do List This Year 25/01/2017 by Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Copyright, copyright and more copyright tops Europe’s intellectual property agenda for 2017. With the EU institutions mulling major reforms to copyright laws, publishers are pushing for a right to bar unauthorised copying or reuse of their content for commercial purposes, audiovisual authors for fair remuneration for use of their works on platforms like YouTube. The European Commission will begin reviewing the enforcement of IP rights as well as delving further into issues related to liability of platforms for infringement. But there are many patent issues too, including plant variety protection, patent incentives, and the ongoing unitary patent court.
WHO Board: UN Report On Medicines Too Hot; DG Candidates To Be Narrowed 23/01/2017 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments At the opening of the World Health Organization Executive Board meeting today, a call by India for an agenda item on the report of the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines was denied. Meanwhile, WHO’s director general underlined the success of the organisation over the last year, including new financing arrangements with industry groups to finance the WHO Prequalification Programme. But all eyes are riveted to the election process for the new WHO director general, as three out of the six candidates are expected to be short-listed this week.
Disruptive Technologies Pose Challenge To IP Protection, Speakers In Thailand Say 23/01/2017 by Sinfah Tunsarawuth for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment BANGKOK – So-called disruptive innovation – currently referring to the technologies of Internet of Things, virtual reality, artificial intelligence and big data – are changing the way people live their life and affecting existing traditional industries, but current legal regimes are unequipped to deal with these changes yet, government and private experts said at a recent forum here.
Groups Seek Assurance Of Affordable Zika Vaccine From US Army Exclusive Licence 19/01/2017 by Kim Treanor for Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments A range of civil society organisations have issued a public statement opposing the United States Army’s proposed grant of an exclusive licence on technology necessary to produce a Zika vaccine to French pharmaceutical company Sanofi. The letter cites concerns that the exclusive licence might violate US law and could lead to high priced medicines as consumers buy back taxpayer-funded research.
Industry Initiative Against Non-Communicable Diseases Launched At WEF 19/01/2017 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Nearly two dozen top biopharmaceutical companies have launched a global initiative intended to increase access to prevention and care of non-transmitted diseases in low and lower-middle income countries.