[Ip-health] Intervention by CMC Churches: Public health innovation and intellectual property

[Sangeeta Shashikant]

Agenda item 4.13:  Public health innovation and intellectual property

 124th World Health Organization Executive Board (CMC Churches' Action
for Health intervention)

 The CMC Churches' Action for Health delegation appreciates the
opportunity to comment on the work of the WHO in the implementation of
the global strategy and plan of action on public health, innovation
and intellectual property as mandated by WHA61.21.

 We welcome the creation of the WHO Expert Working Group on R&D
Financing which endeavors to "examine current financing and
coordination of research and development, as well as proposals for new
and innovative sources of funding to stimulate research and
development related to Type II and Type III diseases and the specific
research and development needs of developing countries in relation to
Type I diseases, and open to consideration of proposals from Member
States."

 We take note of document EB/124/16 Add.2 which provides proposed time
frames and estimated funding needs for implementing the global
strategy and plan of action with the total figure of US$ 149 billion
dollars over a period from 2009 to 2015.

 On R&D we urge the WHO, Member States, development partners,
international intergovernmental organizations, charitable foundations,
research institutions and civil society organizations to immediately
initiate processes to execute element 5.3(a) of the global strategy
which calls upon the aforementioned stakeholders to "explore and,
where appropriate, promote a range of incentive schemes for research
and development including addressing, where appropriate, the
de-linkage of the cost of research and development and the price of
health products, for example through award of prizes, with the
objective of addressing diseases which disproportionately affect
developing countries.

 Several proposals for new incentive schemes have been proposed by
Barbados and Bolivia in April 2008, for example a prize fund for a low
cost TB diagnostic test and a prize fund for for the development of
new treatments for Chagas.  These six proposals should be subject to
consideration by the WHO Expert Working Group on R&D Financing.

 On IP,  we strongly urge the WHO Secretariat to provide proactive
guidance particularly on the use of  TRIPS flexibilities to promote
access such as compulsory licensing, exceptions to patent rights,
implementing policies on strict patentability criteria to achieve
public health objectives and implementing policies to prevent and
remedy anti-competitive practices pertaining to patents for health
products

 Developing countries are urged to make use of all flexibilities
available such as compulsory licensing to access affordable and good
quality medicines for communicable and non-communicable diseases such
as cancer and diabetes.

 We also believe that time is ripe to seriously consider health &
biomedical R&D Treaty to address the innovation and access problems of
developing countries.  Element 2.3(c) of the Global Strategy
explicitly encourages "further exploratory discussions on the utility
of possible instruments or mechanisms for essential health and
biomedical R&D, including inter alia, an essential health and
biomedical R&D treaty".


  Thank you.