The Trump administration this week proposed drastic cuts in funding for international activities including foreign policy and global health in 2019, while further building up military and big business activities. Programs related to international activities will have to prove their value to American interests and other countries are demanded to pay more, according to the proposed budget sent yesterday to Congress, which is ultimately expected to set about the task of restoring numerous programs. 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 ->
The engagement of actors such as industry, civil society, philanthropy and academia with the World Health Organization has been a subject of controversy, with some of those actors being potentially able to influence the work of the organisation. A framework for engagement with those stakeholders was agreed two years ago. At last week's Executive Board meeting, the new WHO director general explained that engagement with those actors, and notably industry, is worth the risk, which he said can be managed. Continue reading ->
On the eve of the annual January World Health Organization Executive Board meeting, an alliance of pharmaceutical industries launched its first report on efforts made to curb antimicrobial resistance. The alliance also organised a conference on the report and on challenges of antimicrobial resistance, in particular the need for research and development incentives so that the industry can continue its efforts sustainably. Some light was also shed on the need to support access to diagnostics, and lower their prices. Continue reading ->
Kenya’s pharmaceutical products manufacturing sector is hopeful it will experience significant growth after the Square Pharmaceuticals ltd (SPL) of Bangladesh commissioned a US$ 75 million plant in the East African nation this week. [A reminder: this story, like all of our stories, is completely free for almost every developing country in the world. Just sign up for a free password here!] Continue reading ->
The new World Health Organization director general last month announced a range of officials to serve as programme directors, touting the unusual achievement of naming almost all women to add to an overall women's majority in the senior leadership of the organisation - a first for the UN. Now after some questions arose over the choice of a Russian official to head up efforts against tuberculosis, the WHO defended its choices as fully merit-based, including in an email to Intellectual Property Watch and its sister publication Global Health Policy News. Continue reading ->