A recent panel of health experts gathered at the hallowed Swiss Intellectual Property Institute in Bern (which counts Albert Einstein among its alumni) tackled some of the toughest questions facing global health policymakers with an eye toward actually solving them and not just restating polarised positions. One of the ideas discussed at the event was how priorities for diseases and research are handled at the global level. Continue reading ->
The unexpected announcement in December of the resignation of the Medicines Patent Pool executive director left the Pool searching for its new head. Marie-Paule Kieny, former World Health Organization assistant director general, now chair of the MPP governance board stepped in to oversee the MPP while the search goes on. She sat down recently for an interview with Intellectual Property Watch to explain that MPP is conducting business as usual, and is keeping firm in its plan to release the results of a feasibility study analysing the possibility for MPP to extend its licensing activities to other essential medicines still under patent. Continue reading ->
A consortium including the Drugs for Neglected Disease initiative has launched a groundbreaking open source drug discovery project as way to find new drugs to treat mycetoma, a "devastating disease for which current treatments are ineffective, expensive, and toxic," the group said. Continue reading ->
BERN, Switzerland -- What if reaching the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals on access to health for all depended on the willingness of all actors to see beyond outdated dichotomies? The concept may seem obvious, but is easier described than done. In an effort to break silos, the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI) brought together stakeholders of all sides last week to discuss how to harness political and economic will to achieve innovation leading to new medicines that are available and affordable for all in need. Continue reading ->
Mirza Alas of the intergovernmental South Centre has published an analysis of the World Health Organization Executive Board approval of a draft resolution on actions toward ending tuberculosis and how it relates to antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The opening paragraphs and a link to the original are provided below. Continue reading ->
The International Generic and Biosimilar medicines Association has launched an information campaign on biosimilar medicines in order to raise worldwide understanding and acceptance of biosimilar medicines. Continue reading ->
The Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) yesterday announced the release of a new strategy on antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Continue reading ->
One hundred years after the great Spanish flu pandemic, World Health Organization members today underlined their satisfaction with the organisation’s framework to get countries best prepared for the next pandemic: The WHO Executive Board agreed on keeping most of the funds coming to the framework for preparedness measures, and a smaller portion for response measures, unless emergency strikes. Continue reading ->
The Brazilian ambassador and others this morning at the World Health Organization Executive Board meeting were not going to let go of what seemed to be a delaying tactic by the United States and Japan to postpone agreement on the implementation of measures aimed at facilitating research and development and access to medicines. The WHO Board today is considering a set of streamlined strategic measures on public health, innovation, and intellectual property. Continue reading ->
The members of the World Health Organization Executive Board tonight (24 January) agreed to create a roadmap on global shortages of, and access to, medicines and vaccines. WHO members proclaimed the urgent need to address prices and availability of safe and efficient medicines and vaccines, some requesting the recently elected director general of the organisation to help find solutions. Continue reading ->