[Ip-health] Wed noon comment on WHA R&D resolution

[James Love]

James Love (CPTech)  "Right now the important decisions about setting
priorities and financing R&D are made by the WTO, WIPO and the G8.
The World Health Organization needs to start a conversation about how
we fund R&D, and this conversation should include discussions of how
priorities are set, how the burden of paying for R&D is shared, and
how we ensure access to new inventions.  A new global framework for
R&D could take different forms, depending upon country views.  For
example, one could imagine something quite simple, like a set of soft
norms and more collaboration and sharing of information, focusing
only on narrow areas of priority research.  Or, there might be
support for a more comprehensive and formal agreement, such as the
Framework Convention on R&D that was proposed by  Brazil and a number
of public health stake-holders.   We will have to see what is
proposed, and the degree of public and government support for the
alternatives.   We also need to look at this as a process, that could
involve both short term confidence building steps, with more
ambitious measures possible over a longer time period.     We have to
be realistic about the capacity of the public health community to
engage on R&D issues, and also to recognize how the importance of
this initiative, and to explain the benefits in ways that are easy to
understand."