Save the Date-17 May 2011-KEI @ WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Patents: Patents and Health
Knowledge Ecology International: Patents and HealthDATE: Tuesday, 17 May 2011
TIME: 13:30-15h00
VENUE: Room B at the WIPO Main Building
IIPI side event at WIPO to present on a joint USPTO/IIPI project on “Missed Opportunities Patenting in Developing Countries”
The International Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI) is holding a side event at WIPO today on the margins of the WIPO Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) on “Missed Opportunities for Patenting in Developing Countries” and “Innovation Opportunities in the Philippines”.
The program flyer for the event notes that this initiative is a “joint project between the Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI) and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).”
Whither WHO reform? The future of the World Health Organization
On 11 March 2011, Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), convened an “informal advisory meeting” to review different approaches to “securing greater coherence in global health” and to further WHO’s core function of “the directing and coordinating authority on international health work”. A summary report of this informal advisory meeting and the WHO’s background paper on “Global Health Governance and the WHO” can be found here: /wp-content/uploads/WHOglobalhealthgovernancedraft.pdf
April 2011: WHO to tackle pandemic influenza, de-linkage, prizes, R&D financing and non-communicable diseases
April 2011 ushers in a busy period for the World Health Organization. Continue Reading
Intervention of Brazil to the WTO TRIPS Council (March 2011) providing details about the Brazilian HIV treatment program
On Tuesday, 1 March 2011, Brazil made the following intervention at the WTO Council for TRIPS during discussions of the paragraph 6 system.
Mr. Chairman,
Brazil welcomes the opportunity for this follow-up to the review on the implementation of the paragraph 6 system. Our aim here is to assess whether this system is indeed an expeditious solution for countries lacking manufacturing capacity and to address any shortcomings for the system’s effective operation.
Continue ReadingResponse of WHO to KEI letter regarding McKinsey, vaccine policy and competing interests
On 20 February 2011, Dr. Keiji Fukuda, Assistant Director-General – Health Security and Environment, World Health Organization, responded to KEI’s letter (16 February 2011) regarding McKinsey, vaccine policy and competing interests. Here is the response in full (email contacts have been redacted).
From: “Fukuda, Keiji”
Date: February 20, 2011 4:14:05 PM GMT+01:00
To: “Thiru Balasubramaniam”
Continue ReadingKEI letter to WHO regarding McKinsey, vaccine policy and competing interests
On 15 February 2011, the Co-Chairs of the WHO Open-Ended Working Group of Member States on Pandemic Influenza Preparedness: sharing of influenza viruses and access to vaccines and other benefits (OEWG) held a consultation with civil society. The Co-chairs of the OEWG are Ambassador J. Gomez-Camacho, Mexico and Ambassador B. Angell-Hansen, Norway. Continue Reading
WikiLeaks cable details UK/US strategy during IGWG negotiations in 2007
On 4 February 2011, WikiLeaks passed on to the UK newspaper, The Telegraph, a cable dated 1 November 2007 from the US Embassy in London entitled “UK AGREES WITH US APPROACH TO UPCOMING WHO INTERGOVERNMENTAL WORKING GROUP ON PUBLIC HEALTH, INNOVATION, AND IP” signed by “LEBARON“. Continue Reading
Noncommunicable diseases in the 2011 global public health agenda
Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) enjoy a place of prominence on the global public health agenda in 2011. At the 128th WHO EB, the assembly was abuzz with news of a joint Russian and WHO initiative, the “First global ministerial conference on healthy lifestyles and noncommunicable disease control” to be held in Moscow on 28-29 April 2011 and the UN High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on Non-Communicable Diseases in September 2011.
Le Monde: L’OMS face à un nouveau conflit d’intérêts
The following is an article by Agathe Duparc which appeared on page four of the Sunday/Monday edition (23 January-24 January 2011) of Le Monde with a reference on the cover page. Below the article are two paragraphs providing readers with more background information on the World Health Assembly and the Executive Board. The third paragraph is the main quote highlighted in the print version. What is missing in this copy below is a cartoon accompanying the piece which shows a bespectacled man with a body of an octopus holding two syringes in a field of dollar signs. Continue Reading