[Ip-health] John Kilama featured in "People" section of IP-Watch

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen

John Kilama, a pharmaceutical industry lobbyist and report-writer
based near the headquarters of his former employer DuPont chemical
company in Wilmington, Delaware (US) and active in Geneva,
was in town in June. Along with meeting with officials to discuss
the advantages of innovation and IP protection, he presented his
views at a gathering put on by the Creative and Innovative Economy
Center of George Washington University (US), along with centre director
Michael Ryan. While in Geneva, Kilama paid a visit to the nearby
touristy town of Evian-les-Bains with his long-time friend and former
industry counterpart Rob Ridley of the World Health Organization.
Ridley is director of the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special
Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases. At this
writing, he was a candidate to head an intergovernmental working
group set up by the May 2006 World Health Assembly to develop
a global strategy on health and intellectual property rights, an issue
about which the industry has been sceptical at the WHO.