[Ip-health] KEI Statement on WHA/IGWG resolution

[James Love]

It was long, coming at about 4:15pm on Saturday, with a fair amount of
drama, but the resolution has passed.

This is the Statement of KEI

James Love, Director, KEI on IGWG negotiation
Geneva mobile +41.76.413.6584, james.love@keionline.org


"Six and a half years after the Doha Declaration, and five years after
the CIPIH was created, the WHO has taken a big step forward to change
the way we think about innovation and access to medicines.  In a lengthy
and substantive document, the World Health Assembly has reached
consensus on a plethora of difficult and important topics, sometimes
with impressive detail and clarity, on topics that were considered
controversial only a short time ago.  We are particularly impressed that
the WHA was:

* strong on the use of compulsory licensing and other flexibilities in
protecting public health,
* recommended that drug registration requirements confirm to the
Declaration of Helsinki on Ethical Principles for Medical Research
Involving Human Subjects,and continues and expands its support for
* work on a biomedical R&D treaty,
* the collective management of intellectual property rights, and
* the use of new mechanisms, like prizes, to provide innovative
incentives that are not linked to product prices.

It is unfortunate that the WHA has yet to address the estimation of
funding needs for priority R&D, or created a framework for sustainable
sources of funding.  Also, the WHO Secretariat has yet to engage on the
issue of new mechanisms that de-link R&D incentives from product prices.
These and other issues will be the subject of the next round of
negotiations, which will begin very soon."


--
James Love, Knowledge Ecology International
mailto:james.love@keionline.org
voice +1.202.332.2670, fax +1.202.332.2673, US mobile +1.202.361.3040,
Geneva mobile +41.76.413.6584
"When everyone thinks alike, no one thinks very much." =E2=80=94 Walter Lip=
pmann