[Ip-health] IP Watch: Report Finds Significant Industry Affiliation in IGWG "NGO" Comments

[Sarah Rimmington]

http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=3D815
Intellectual Property Watch

8 November 2007
Report Finds Significant Industry Affiliation in IGWG =91NGO=92 Comments

By Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch
As negotiators gather at the United Nations this week in Geneva to seek
ways to boost innovation on neglected diseases disproportionately
affecting poor people, a new study was released showing that
commentators at the negotiation=92s public hearing came primarily from
organisations affiliated in some way with the pharmaceutical or
biotechnology industries.

The study, released on 7 November, was conducted by US nongovernmental
group Essential Action via survey. Commentators registered as an =91NGO=92,
=91Civil Society Group=92, or =91International Organization=92 and were ask=
ed
whether their group accepts donations from for-profit corporations or
trade associations, and then asked for details regarding specific
companies, amounts donated, and stated purpose of donations. Essential
Action also independently researched funding sources and affiliations of
commentators who did not respond to the survey.

The results of the study were released during the World Health
Organization Intergovernmental Working Group on Public Health,
Innovation and Intellectual Property (IGWG), which is meeting from 5 to
10 November.

Overall in the study, Essential Action found twenty-two of the comments
submitted by NGO/Civil Society groups were from organisations that had
either received money from pharmaceutical corporations or had
representatives from the industry on their board of directors. The level
of involvement ranged from fairly minimal - the Colorado Chapter of the
National Association of Hispanic Nurses, for instance, had accepted
funding for its 2007 conference from several pharmaceutical and
biotechnology firms -to fairly in-depth - the Alliance for Health
Education and Development, for instance is headed by a former health
care industry lobbyist. An additional thirteen trade associations with
overt ties to the pharmaceutical industry joined in the IGWG comments.
Only eight organisations listed as NGOs showed no ties with industry,
though there were also eight academics with no apparent industry ties
who commented.

Reactions to Essential Action=92s survey were also mixed. Essential Action
suggested that ties to industry are a helpful way to assess the value of
comments from contributors: clearly those with a strong financial stake
in the IGWG outcome are more subject to bias.

Among survey respondents who said they did not accept donations from
for-profit corporations, there was some agreement with EA=92s position.
Thomas Pogge from Incentives for Global Health noted that it =93was clear
from many=85 contributions=94 that industry donations were being accepted
and thanked Essential Action for its record-keeping. There was also
disagreement, notably from Lawrence Kogan from the Institute for Trade,
Standards and Sustainable Development, which advocates strong
intellectual property regimes, felt that =93to the extent there are
corporate monies donated to support our efforts, all the better.=94

Others admitted accepting for-profit monies but did not believe it
affected their ability to deliver honest, qualified opinions. Virginia
T. Ladd of the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association noted
that it =93is standard practice in the USA [to] receive corporate and
foundation funds from those entities [with] an interest in the work.=94

Robert Weissman of Essential Action said in a statement: =93Understanding
an organisation=92s ties is helpful in assessing the merits of comments
submitted.=94

Kaitlin Mara may be reached at info@ip-watch.ch.

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--
Sarah Rimmington
Attorney
Essential Action, Access to Medicines Project
Washington, DC
Tel: (202) 387-8030
Cell: (202) 422-2687
www.essentialaction.org/access/