[Ip-health] [UAEM] Universities Release Best Practices for Licensing "In the Public Interest"

[Robynn Sturm]

This week eleven top research universities and the Association of Medical
Colleges released a white paper on best practices for licensing "In the
Public Interest"

Recognizing universities' fundamental responsibility to ensure the fruits of
their research benefit the world's poor, the signatories committed to the
simple principle at the heart of UAEM's Philadelphia Consensus Statement
launched last year:

"Universities should strive to construct licensing arrangements in ways that
ensure that these underprivileged populations have low- or no-cost access to
adequate quantities of these medical innovations."

The white paper itself is at:
http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2007/march7/gifs/whitepaper.pdf.


I've also appended UAEM's full press release below, but wanted to highlight
a couple points:

. We're very pleased to see Universities make this commitment and believe
their action reflects the fast-growing traction of our proposed solution to
a pressing problem.

. Yet, for the millions who lack access to existing medicines, its time to
move beyond talk.  We're disappointed that this document lacks *any* attempt
at developing model licensing for access to medicines, despite model
licensing language on a number of other issues.

. This is just the beginning. Even as this laudable language was drafted,
promising drug candidates were licensed with no provisions for access.
Universities must now:

1) Translate the principles espoused here into transparent, concrete, and
effective mechanisms to ensure access; and
2) Adopt technology transfer metrics that measure success commensurate with
the commitment they have made.


Students Applaud New University Commitment to Access, But Seek
Specifics,Action

For immediate release. For information contact:

Virginia Marie Zaunbrecher, U.C. Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law,
      510-847-2376, virginiamz@berkeley.edu

In a document released this week, eleven top research universities and the
Association of American Medical Colleges committed to changes that may make
medical breakthroughs they discover more available in developing countries.
The document recognizes for the first time that "universities should strive
to construct licensing arrangements in ways that ensure that these
underprivileged populations have low- or no-cost access to adequate
quantities of [university-developed] medical innovations."  The release
follows the launch, last year, of UAEM's Philadelphia Consensus Statement,
which called for such changes. The Philadelphia Consensus Statement was
endorsed by over a hundred top scientists and public health luminaries, as
well as thousands of students and others at 135 campuses around the world.
Students called the universities' announcement a milestone, but said it must
be a beginning, not an end.

"We commend the signatories for their recognition today of a fundamental
responsibility and their landmark commitment to ensure the fruits of
university research benefit the world's poor. At the same time, for the
millions who lack access to existing medicines, it's time we get to
specifics. We're concerned that this document suggests no actual licensing
provisions for access to medicines, despite model terms on a number of other
issues," said Virginia Zaunbrecher, a leader of Berkeley UAEM and a student
at the university's Boalt Hall School of Law. UAEM has published model
access provisions of its own.

Students said they hoped to work with the universities on the announcement
and with others to quickly remedy that shortfall. "We want to make sure the
laudable principles espoused here are translated into transparent, concrete,
and effective mechanisms for helping get drugs to developing countries, and
to make sure those mechanisms are actually put into practice," said
Zaunbrecher. "The fact remains, to date we know of no university-developed
drug with a global market that has ever been licensed with access
provisions. It's time to change that."

Ravi Kavasery, a medical student at Yale University, added, "This
announcement is a praiseworthy, important step--but it is critical that
universities not rest on their laurels. Important licensing deals are being
concluded without any strategy for developing world patients, even in recent
months. Delay has a human cost."

"Universities fight for very specific legal assurances when it comes to
getting drugs to lucrative wealthy markets. The world's destitute sick
deserve the same attention."


Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) is a coalition of
students and faculty at major research universities in the United States and
Canada. 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 impoverished countries.