[Ip-health] Margaret Chan on "new intitiaves, and new incentive schemes"

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://www.keionline.org/blogs/2009/07/14/chan-wipo/


Margaret Chan on =93new initiatives, and new incentive schemes=94
By thiru, on July 14th, 2009

July 14, 2009

At the WIPO Conference on Intellectual Property and Public Policy
Issues today, Margaret Chan, the Director General of the World Health
Organization, made the following speech at WIPO=92s Conference on
Intellectual Property and Public Policy Issues on the topic of
=93Strengthening Multilateral Cooperation on IP and Public Health=94 where
she shared the limelight with Pascal Lamy, Director General of the
World Trade Organization.

Dr. Chan called the WHO Global Strategy and Plan of Action emanating
from the WHO Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) on Public Health,
Innovation and Intellectual Property as a =93triumph for public health=94
because it =93demonstrates that the forces that govern the development
and pricing of medical products can indeed be steered in directions
that favour more equitable access to medicines=94.

She made the curious assertion that during the IGWG process,

     some in civil society had a radical proposal: abolish the current
system of intellectual property and patent protection, and replace it
with something inherently more responsive to health needs and
concerns. As you know, this was not the solution eventually agreed
upon. Instead, many imaginative strategies have been devised to
circumvent the consequences of market failure for neglected
populations and neglected diseases.

As examples of =93new initiatives and new incentive schemes=94 to address
market failure, Dr. Chan provided the examples of product development
partnerships, the Global Fund, GAVI and the pre-qualification program
in =93finding pioneering solutions to a range of related problems=94.

It is interesting that Global Fund, GAVI, PDPs and the pre-
qualification program, institutions and programs, which all existed
PRIOR to the passage of the WHO Global Strategy, are cited by the WHO
Director General as the first fruits of the triumphant Global
Strategy=92s =93new initiatives=94 and =93new incentive schemes=94 to addre=
ss
market failure for neglected diseases and neglected populations. Dr.
Chan did not mention the existence of the Expert Working Group on R&D
financing which is tasked by the Member States of WHO 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 R&D needs of developing countries
in relation to Type I diseases.

At the end of the session, the Ambassador of Senegal announced that
Chan and Lamy could not take questions from the audience.

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Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
thiru@keionline.org


Tel: +41 22 791 6727
Mobile: +41 76 508 0997