[Ip-health] IP watch: WHO IP And Health Group Ends Meeting With Substantive Progress

[James Love]

I have one comment on William New's excellent November 10 discussion of
the WHO IGWG negotiations.

The "aim" of the Global Strategy and Plan of action, includes, "inter alia"=
 measures that involve priority R&D.  "inter alia" is latin for "among othe=
r things." The aim is in fact broader than the R&D issues, addressing also =
other topics and recommendations addressed by the CIPIH, including those co=
ncerning access to medicines.

As Dr. Ogwell said in the ip-watch article, "Existing health products are t=
oo expensive for the poor and the so-called Types II and III diseases are n=
ot being given attention in research and development."

There are also important R&D issues related effective treatments for type I=
 diseases, such as, for example, finding vaccines and medicines that work w=
ell in resource poor settings, such as those that lack refrigeration, as we=
ll the need for lower cost diagnostic devices and tests.

This is why the IGWG negotiations are so controversial.  They deal with acc=
ess for all diseases and conditions, and the special issue of financing R&D=
 in cases areas where better treatments are needed for the poor, and market=
s now function poorly, and public and donor R&D efforts have been inadequat=
e.




On Sat, 2007-11-10 at 23:48 +0100, Judit Rius Sanjuan wrote:
> WHO IP And Health Group Ends Meeting With Substantive Progress
> By William New
> 10 November 2007
>
> /http://ip-watch.org/weblog/wp-trackback.php?p=3D820
>
> The Intergovernmental Working Group on Public Health, Innovation and
> Intellectual Property <http://www.who.int/phi> (IGWG) is mandated to
> come up with a strategy and plan of action before the May 2008 World
> Health Assembly. The aim is to address insufficient research and
> development on diseases disproportionately afflicting the poor.