[Ip-health] KEI statement to resumed IGWG II bis.

[James Love]

http://www.keionline.org/index.php?option=3Dcom_content&task=3Dview&id=3D17=
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KEI  statement to resumed IGWG II bis.
Thursday, May 1, 2008

Thank you Mr. Chairman.

Knowledge Ecology International makes the following statement.

After three days of negotiations, it seems as though many developed
countries that enjoy high average incomes are working to limit efforts
to bring about change.  The first three days have seen a strong defense
of the status quo, and a strong defense of entrenched interests.

There is no =E2=80=9CSpirit of Geneva=E2=80=9D in the room.  There is no se=
nse that this
IGWG wants to usher in new paradigms for innovation and access.  There
is no acknowledgment that the status quo is deeply flawed, and must
change.

If ambitions are to bring about change, it may not be the moment to
conclude this negotiation.

Change can be hard.  The WTO negotiation on the Doha Declaration on
TRIPS and Public Health was difficult.  But in November 2001, WTO
members were ready to say something new, and elevate the cause of access
to medicines.  In 2004, the World Intellectual Property Organization
(WIPO) was asked to consider a development agenda.  That effort looked
like it would fail, but in 2007 WIPO made enormous progress, with 45
consensus recommendations.

The current negotiating text is full of brackets, in the most important
areas, to numerous to fully detail here, but noting for example, the
control of anti-competitive practices, avoiding requirements for
unethical experiments on humans as a registration requirement, any use
of the word prizes, prize funds or patent buy-outs, the separation of
incentives from drug prices, or a new global R&D fund.

The proposal for a task force to address the framework for a sustainable
financing for needs driven R&D should not be yet another way of
deferring action.  It should also not be a vehicle that is so riddled
with conflicts of interest that it cannot truly address the concerns of
consumers, or introduce new paradigms that provide sustainable ways of
promoting access to medicine, such as the de-linkage of R&D incentives
from product prices, the approach of WHA resolution 60.30.

Both the WTO and WIPO were able to address the concerns of consumers, to
overcome opposition from entrenched interests, and do something
important.   This is the UN agency for health.  The standards should be
higher, not lower.

If this meeting of the IGWG does not have the political will to bring
about change in the area of innovation and access, it should consider
waiting, until prospects for success are higher.
--
_____________________________
James Love, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
http://www.keionline.org, mailto:james.love@keionline.org
voice +1.202.332.2670, fax +1.202.332.2673, US mobile +1.202.361.3040, Gene=
va mobile +41.76.413.6584

When everyone thinks the same, no one thinks.  Bill Walton remix of Walter =
Lippmann