[Ip-health] Intervention of CMC Churches' Action for Health at IGWG

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]

5 December 2006

Intervention of CMC Churches' Action for Health at IGWG
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The CMC Churches' Action for Health is pleased to address the WHO
Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) on public health, innovation and
intellectual property.=A0 The IGWG is tasked with an important mission --
how does it reconcile the need to promote innovation with the need for
access?=A0=A0 There is much evidence that the current system is broken, and
this is an important and rare opportunity to change it.
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The expansion and strengthening of intellectual property protection
norms for new medicines, through the WTO TRIPS agreement and various
bilateral and regional trade agreements, are attempts to strengthen
marketing monopolies for medicines.=A0 These marketing monopolies raise
prices for medicines, creating access barriers.=A0=A0
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We are very concerned about disparities in access to medicines that are
based upon incomes.=A0 The world community must search for ways to
improve the level of access by the poor.
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The putative rationale for creating legal monopolies to sell medicines
is to stimulate R&D.=A0 But growing evidence shows that monopolies are an
imperfect and highly inefficient way to stimulate the type of R&D that
truly improves health care outcomes.=A0 Of course, if monopolies were the
only mechanism available, they would be necessary.=A0 But several
submissions to the CIPIH and the IGWG have called upon the WHO to
examine new ways of financing R&D for new medicines.
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Particularly promising are proposals to separate the market for
medicines from the market for innovation.=A0 Specifically, by promoting
competitive markets for generic products, at low prices, while directly
rewarding innovations that improve health outcomes, through such
mechanisms as prize funds.=A0=A0
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A number of economists and other experts have recommended this change
in paradigm.=A0=A0 It has the important feature of bringing together access
and innovation, as compatible goals.=A0
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There are many proposals to address the practical details of such a
paradigm shift.=A0=A0 It is the practical issues that should concern us.=A0=
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We are not interested in lofty platitudes only, but in the practical
steps to implement changes.=A0
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Toward this end, we call upon the IGWG to commit to new mechanisms to
support essential medical R&D that do not rely upon high product
prices.=A0=A0 This is the most important issue.=A0 We must take the steps t=
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de-link drug prices and R&D incentives.=A0 This is the only way we can
protect the poor.=A0

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Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
CPTech
voice +41.22.791.6727
fax +41.22.723.2988
mobile +41 76 508 0997
thiru@cptech.org
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