[Ip-health] Student Group Helps Ensure Global Access to University Innovations

[Caroline Gallant]

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 17, 2007

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Student Group Helps Ensure Global Access to University Innovations
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VANCOUVER, BC.  July 17, 2007.  Students from the University of British
Columbia chapter of Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM)
--
a student group which advocates for lifesaving drugs developed in campus
laboratories to be made available in the developing world -- are helping
UBC to take the first steps towards ensuring that its research
discoveries
reach everyone in need.

After meetings between the students, top UBC administration and UBC's
University-Industry Liaison Office (UILO), the UILO has published a
draft of
a new global access strategy to guide the commercialization of future
UBC
discoveries. The UILO is currently seeking public feedback in order to
further
shape the guidelines (published online at www.uilo.ubc.ca), to ensure
that they
will be effective in increasing the social impact and global reach of
UBC
research discoveries.

Every year, millions of people die -- primarily in developing countries
--
because they lack access to existing medical treatments. Universities
are
increasingly recognizing their role in alleviating this crisis, but UBC
is the
first university in Canada to formally develop a global access strategy.

"This is a landmark initiative: we applaud UBC's leadership on this
crucial
issue," said Patricia Kretz, a medical student and member of UAEM at
UBC. "This
development has the potential to save countless lives. We are eagerly
looking
forward to seeing the principles put into practice, and we hope this
will
inspire similar action at universities across Canada."

Read and comment on UBC's global access strategy draft at
www.uilo.ubc.ca/
global_perspective.asp.


UNIVERSITIES ALLIED FOR ESSENTIAL MEDICINES (UAEM) is a coalition of
students
at over 35 research universities in the United States, Canada, and the
United
Kingdom. In 2001, UAEM's founders helped forge a deal between Yale and
Bristol-
Myers Squibb to lower the price of one of the most widely used AIDS
drugs by
96% throughout sub-Saharan Africa.  The first major patent concession
on an
AIDS drug, the Yale/BMS deal helped create a tipping point for access to
affordable AIDS treatment. UAEM has since worked to make such
agreements a
standard part of university licensing. The organization also works to
promote
university research on neglected diseases predominantly affecting those
in im-
poverished countries. Please see www.essentialmedicine.org or
www.ubc-uaem.org
for more information.

Contact: Andrew Gray
Email:   agray@interchange.ubc.ca
Phone:   (604) 875-4111 ext. 68446 (daytime)
         (604) 872-7818 (evenings/weekends)

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[ UBC-UAEM Press Release on Global Perspectives.doc of type application/msword deleted ]
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