[Ip-health] Brazilian statement to EB 126 (Jan 2010) on public health, innovation and intellectual property

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://keionline.org/node/759

Brazilian statement to EB 126 (Jan 2010) on public health, innovation
and intellectual property
By thiru
Created 18 Jan 2010 - 6:36pm

On Monday, 18 January 2010, Brazil delivered the following statement
to the 126th session of the Executive Board of the World Health
Organization (WHO) under agenda item 4.3 "public health, innovation
and intellectual property". In her intervention, the delegate of
Brazil stressed,

     Access to medication is a critical issue. The Global Strategy
refers to the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health and states
the very fact that the price of medicines is one of the factors that
hinder access to treatment. Medicines cannot be treated like other
products. Strategies to reduce the price of drugs must be pursued,
including proposals to de-link the costs of research and development
from the price of drugs.

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STATEMENT BY THE DELEGATION OF BRAZIL ON THE OCCASION OF THE 126th
SESSION OF WHO EXECUTIVE BOARD, UNDER AGENDA ITEM "PUBLIC HEALTH,
INNOVATION AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY"

Geneva, 18 January 2010

Mr. Chairman,
Madam Director-General,
Members of the Board,
Colleagues,

Allow me to express Brazil's appreciation to the Director-General for
preparing a report on public health, innovation and intellectual
property, as well as circulating the executive summary of the report
of the Expert Working Group on Research and Development Financing.

Few years ago, Brazil and Kenya were the main sponsors of the process
that led to the approval of the Global Strategy on Public Health,
Innovation and Intellectual Property. We continue to attach utmost
importance to the issue. It is our belief that such an
intergovernmental agreement was only possible because of our
commitment to tackle one of the main root causes of ill-health in the
world: inequities within and among countries.

While some have access to the most expensive hospitals, as well as
high-tech medical equipment and state of the art treatment for
diseases, millions of children, particularly in poor countries, do not
have access to clean water, sanitation, food and life-saving vaccines,
hindering their chances to grow up healthy. In a nutshell: unbalanced
distribution of wealth has a dramatic impact on public health and
affects the poor in a disproportionate manner.

Something has to be done to change this picture. It is not only a
legal issue, but a moral and ethical matter as well. As States, we are
obliged to protect the fundamental rights of our citizens, including
"the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health". However,
this goal seems to be increasingly remote, particularly in the
developing world. There is no more time to be wasted. The
international community must join efforts now to support the
implementation of identified measures and initiatives in the field of
public health. All countries and peoples will benefit from results of
this global partnership.

After crafting a document to address the interface between public
health, innovation and intellectual property, time has come for WHO -
Member States and the Secretariat - to turn words into concrete
action. Brazil wants to see the Organization, as one of the main
stakeholders, fully engaged in implementing the Global Strategy from a
purely public health perspective. Brazil is doing its part. We have
contributed with financial resources to support the implementation of
the Strategy, we are co-founders of UNITAID and have given our support
to the creation of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria.

Mr Chairman,

The Global Strategy provides the tools for channeling resources to the
health sector, ensuring access to affordable medicines, vaccines and
other medical products, as well as fostering capacity-building,
technical cooperation and transfer of technology. It is a crucial
framework under which countries with different levels of development
can act with more solidarity.

Access to medication is a critical issue. The Global Strategy refers
to the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health and states the very
fact that the price of medicines is one of the factors that hinder
access to treatment. Medicines cannot be treated like other products.
Strategies to reduce the price of drugs must be pursued, including
proposals to de-link the costs of research and development from the
price of drugs.

Let us be clear: we are not rewriting or renegotiating the TRIPS
Agreement. However, TRIPS must be interpreted and implemented in a
manner supportive of our obligation, as States, to protect public
health. We must ensure that the flexibilities of the Agreement are
fully applied. WHO must provide political and technical support to
countries which intend to use them. For Brazil, this Board, as one of
the governing bodies of WHO, must give guidance to the Secretariat on
the issue of ensuring access to affordable medicines, including
generic drugs. Furthermore, patients have the right to be clearly
informed about all the options they have regarding medicines and
treatment .

Brazil is prepared to share its successful experience in providing
free and universal treatment to people living with HIV/AIDS. South-
South cooperation programs are one of the priorities of Brazil's
foreign relations. Our partnerships give special emphasis to capacity-
building in developing countries, as well as support for research and
innovation in the health sector, and, crucially, the broadening of
access to medicines among poor populations.

Madam Director-General,

Allow us to make some specific comments regarding the two documents
before us. In our view, the report (EB126/6) should have been more
detailed and address aspects that go beyond research and development
and innovation. We would have expected a greater focus on intellectual
property and access to medicines and health products. The reason that
led to the Global Strategy negotiations was mainly the impact of
intellectual property rights on access to health products by
developing countries.

We missed a better linkage between the indicators of the plan of
action and the activities carried on. The document could have been
more comprehensive in terms of reporting all the initiatives
implemented by regions, such as those carried out in the Americas last
year. For example, the Global Forum on Health Research held in Cuba in
October; the course on Public Health and Intellectual Property for the
Mercosur countries organized by PAHO in collaboration with the Federal
University of Buenos Aires (Argentina) in December; and the first
Seminar on Economic Regulation of Medicines and Health Products, held
in Brazil in April.

With regard to some of the initiatives mentioned on the report, we
would appreciate further information on the following: collaboration
between WHO, the World Bank, WIPO and UNCTAD mentioned on paragraph
12; the initiative aimed at examining the barriers on the use of
innovative technologies in resource-limited settings, mentioned in
paragraph 15; on the terms of technology transfer of the cocktail of
monoclonal antibodies mentioned in paragraph 16; and, finally, on the
independent ethics committee mentioned on paragraph 21.

Mr Chairman,

Paragraph 29 of the report refers to UNITAID and WHO's contribution to
activities linked to the establishment of the patent pool. Based on
paragraph 4.3.(a) of the Global Strategy, it would be desirable if the
EB could consider to present to discussion by WHA the idea of WHO
becoming the host and manager of the patent pool to be created by
UNITAID.

With reference to the report of the Expert Group on Research and
Development Financing (EB126/6 Add.1), we would like to make the
following remarks: If you allow me Madam Chair I would like to mention
a few points where we see room for improvement:

On paragraph 6, for instance, there seems to be a contradiction
between the work done by CIPIH and the IGWG regarding the impact of
intellectual property rights on research and development.
Notwithstanding, elements that were not agreed upon during the IGWG
process, such as tax exemptions, were reintroduced by the EWG.
Moreover, the debate should have addressed developing countries as a
whole, and not only poor countries, as clearly requested by the Global
Strategy. Moreover, the report doesn't contain references on documents
it is based on. It is also not clear what were the criteria used to
select proposals that met the needs of developing countries.

Finally, in general terms, the report lays responsibility of
establishing new mechanisms of financing R&D on Governments and
consumers, without any reference to private sector contribution/
participation. We would have appreciated the inclusion of the proposal
made by the Brazilian Government related to the remittance of profits
of the pharmaceutical industry in this regard.

Mr. Chairman,

The implementation of the Global Strategy is an urgent need. Taking
into account that the complete report was only made available this
weekend on-line, we would like to propose that the DG convenes
intergovernmental consultations before the WHA to examine and discuss
the document and the recommendations therein. We would also like to
support India's proposal regarding the invitation to the UN Special
Rapporteur on the Right to Health to address the WHA.

Thank you very much.



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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