Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation: High-Level Commission Calls For Action to Ensure Developing Country Access to Existing and New Medicines and Vaccines

Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation: High-Level Commission Calls For Action to Ensure Developing Country Access to Existing and New Medicines and Vaccines

April 03, 2006

Commission Report Points Way Forward

    GENEVA, April 3 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Today, an
independent Commission on Intellectual Property Rights,
Innovation and Public Health presents its report to the
World Health Organization.  The report recommends key
actions needed to ensure that poor people in developing
countries have access to existing and new products to
diagnose, treat and prevent the diseases which affect them
most.  

    (Logo: 
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040610/CNTH001LOGO )

    Over half of the people in the poorest parts of Africa
and Asia lack regular access to existing essential
medicines because they cannot afford them, or because the
health system in their country is too weak.  Apart from
access to existing medicines, some health products
specifically for diseases which disproportionately affect
developing countries are simply not developed at all due to
the lack of a sustainable market.  The relationship between
intellectual property rights, innovation and public health
has been at the heart of debate on these issues. 

    The report of the Commission: "Public Health,
Innovation and Intellectual Property Rights" is the
result of two years' analysis of how governments, industry,
scientists, international law and financing mechanisms can
work best to overcome the challenges.  

    "There is now global momentum to address these
issues, and we have a unique opportunity to build on this. 
There is more awareness, more money potentially available,
more utilization of scientific capacity in developing
countries and new institutions such as public-private
partnerships.  The Commission report is clear that we must
build on all of these to ensure that poor people in
developing countries have sustainable access to the
medicines, vaccines and diagnostics they need now, and
critically, in the future.  The report maps out the ways
this can be done," said Mme Ruth Dreifuss, the Chair
of the Commission. 

    The report was commissioned by the World Health
Assembly, WHO's governing body of 192 Member States.  WHO's
Director-General, Dr LEE Jong-wook,  established the
Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and
Public Health in February 2004.  The Commission included
ten members, and represented the perspectives of
government, industry, public-private partnerships, science,
medicine, law and economics.*  

    The Commission formally handed its report to the
Director-General today. It contains more than 50
recommendations which serve as a road map for tackling the
issues in different country settings. 

    "We are grateful to the Commissioners for
undertaking this difficult task.  With this report, the
Commission has built a solid foundation from which
countries can move forward.  I encourage all countries to
give serious consideration to their role in addressing
these critical issues," said Dr LEE Jong-wook, today
as Mme Dreifuss presented the report.  

    An intergovernmental working group of WHO's Executive
Board will consider the Report at a meeting on 28 April. 
The World Health Assembly will then examine and debate the
Report during its annual meeting from 22 - 27 May 2006. The
Assembly will ultimately decide how the Report findings will
be applied. 

    The report is available in six languages at
http://www.who.int/intellectualproperty .  A question and
answer document is available at the same address.

     * The Commission was led by Ruth Dreifuss, former
President of the Swiss 
       Confederation.  The vice-chairperson was Dr
Raghunath Mashelkar, 
       Director-General of India's Council of Scientific
and Industrial 
       Research.  Other members were Professor Carlos
Correa (Argentina), 
       Professor Mahmoud Fathalla (Egypt), Dr Maria Freire
(USA), Professor 
       Trevor Jones (UK), Mr Tshediso Matona (South
Africa), Professor Fabio 
       Pammolli (Italy), Professor Pakdee Pothisiri
(Thailand) and Professor 
       Hiroko Yamane (Japan).

    For more information please contact: 

     Charles Clift, Secretariat, 
     Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, 
      Innovation and Public Health, WHO
     Tel:    [phone]
     Mobile: [phone]
     Email:  [e-mail]

     Neslihan Grasser, Secretariat, 
     Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, 
      Innovation and Public Health, WHO
     Tel:    [phone]
     Email:  [e-mail]

     Christine McNab, Communications Officer, 
     Director General's Office, WHO
     Tel:    [phone]
     Mobile: [phone]
     Email:  [e-mail]

    All press releases, fact sheets and other WHO media
material may be found at http://www.who.int .

SOURCE  World Health Organization