The World Health Organization (WHO) is convening a Global Technical Consultative Meeting of Experts on Identification of Health Research & Development Demonstration Projects from 3-5 December 2013. As mentioned in an earlier piece (21 November 2013, KEI proposal for Antibiotics Innovation Funding Mechanism (AIFM), shortlisted for demonstration project by WHO’s EURO region), “the WHO is considering potential projects that will demonstrate the feasibility and benefits of open innovation models, delinkage of R&D costs and product prices, and innovative finance mechanisms.”
This global meeting on demonstration projects is comprised of two segments: 1) An expert consultation on 3-4 December 2013, open to all Member States as observers and 2) A meeting of Member States on 5 December 2013. This meeting is not opened to non-Member State observers despite requests from France, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to open the process up.
The WHO has published the agenda for the expert consultation here: http://www.who.int/phi/implementation/program3-5dec2013expertmeeting.pdf
The expert consultation will winnow down the list of 22 demonstration projects in three rounds. The first round, “Proposals aiming to meeting a public health need for the poorest and addressing a market failure,” will run from 10:30 AM to 1 PM on Tuesday, 3 December 2013. According to the agenda, the time allocated for each proposal is approximately 5 minutes. The second round, Proposals demonstrating scientific excellence, feasibility and timescale to achieve a significant milestone”, will run from 2 PM to 5 PM on Tuesday, 3 December 2013. The agenda notes that,
Proposals scoring 60% or more in first round will be assessed in this round for their scientific excellence, feasibility and timescale to achieve a significant milestone.
The time allocated for each proposal in the second round will be approximately 10 minutes.
The third round, “Proposals using new and innovative way of supporting R&D e.g. delinkage of R&D costs (risk) from final product price; open innovation approaches, pooled funding; prizes; patent pools etc.” will take place from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM on Wednesday, 4 December 2013. The agenda notes that,
Proposals scoring 60% or more in second round will be assessed in this round for their use of innovative approaches to financing and coordination.
The time allocated for each proposal in the third round will be approximately 15 minutes. The afternoon session will involve a review of the scoring and discussion (1:30 PM to 2:30 PM) followed by a closed session for the experts to discuss and finalize their recommendations (2:30 PM to 5 PM).
The list of experts for the global consultative meeting follows:
Professor Ivan ADDAE-MENSAH
Professor Maged AL-SHERBINY
Doctor M. K. BHAN
Doctor Noel CRANSWICK
Doctor Nancy EDWARDS
Mr. Robert E. EISS
Professor Rajae EL AOUAD
Professor Mahmoud FATHALLA
Professor Mohammed HASSAR
Doctor Uford INYANG
Doctor Vivian KOURI
Doctor G. Balakrish NAIR
Professor Barthelemy NYASSE
Doctor Flavia SENKUGUBE
Doctor SISWANTO
Doctor Marcel TANNER
Professor Tomris TURMEN
Doctor Jinqian WANG
Doctor Jorge ZARZUR