After 65 interventions by member states and non-governmental organisations, at press time the World Health Organization Executive Board concluded work on a document containing a draft roadmap to increase access to medicines and vaccines.

“Innovation without access does not mean anything,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Gheyebresus said at the close of the three-hour discussion.

Among the issues of the debate were strengthening regulatory systems, use of flexibilities in the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), and the pricing of medicines.

WHO officials declared that the UN health agency has a mandate to work on intellectual property issues alongside its counterpart organisations in Geneva, the WTO and the World Intellectual Property Organization.

The WHO Executive Board is meeting from 24 January to 1 February.

The full story will be forthcoming shortly on our sister publication, Intellectual Property Watch, www.ip-watch.org.