Knowledge Ecology International

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 →

This is a response to an email message posted to a2k and ip-health by Dr. Mary Moran. Among other things, the missive raises the issue of what constitutes a conflict of interest, and also how such conflicts should be managed. Dr. Moran has asked for a response, and this is it.

Dear Dr. Moran,

Continue Reading →

After several days of negotiations, the 128th WHO Executive Board has accepted the nomination of Paul Herrling to the new WHO Consultative Expert Working Group on R&D Financing, despite the fact that Herrling is an executive of Novartis, and is the author of the IFPMA/Novartis/FRIND proposal and the co-author of the PDP Plus proposal, which will be considered by the CEWG.

Continue Reading →

On January 20, 2011, 9 civil society organizations sent a letter to the WHO Executive Board registering an objection to the selection of Dr. Paul Herrling of Novartis to the WHO Consultative Expert Working Group on Research and Development: Financing and Coordination. The groups signing the letter were:

• CIDEPRO
• Déclaration de Berne – Berne Declaration
• HAI Europe
• HAI Global
• Health GAP (Global Access Project)

Continue Reading →

WHO has kindly made available its conflict of interest guidelines. Apparently they are not available from the public web page. Attached are two documents:

• Conflict of Interest Guidelines and Procedures
• Declaration of Interests for WHO Experts

A few of the many interesting provisions follow:

I. MEANING OF “CONFLICT OF INTEREST”

Continue Reading →

On Tuesday the 18th of January 2010,German Green MEP Franziska Keller tabled this Parliamentary question:

Continue Reading →

At the 128th meeting of the WHO Executive Board (EB), the European members of the board are reportedly taking a hard line on the proposal by Switzerland to have Paul Herrling, an executive of Novartis, appointed to the WHO Consultative Expert Working Group (CEWG) on R&D financing. Our earlier blogs on this controversy are available here and here).

Continue Reading →

On Tuesday’s discussion at the 128th Executive Board on the Draft WHO HIV/AIDS strategy 2011–2015, the United States made a strong intervention (delivered by Dr. Nils Daulaire, Director, Office of Global Health Affairs, Department of Health and Human Services) in support of the Medicines Patent Pool drawing attention to the fact that the draft HIV/AIDS strategy while making reference to a more competitive market for ARVs, failed to recognized the importance of the Medicines Patent Pool.

Here below are the remarks of the US on this point:

Continue Reading →

This note provide additional context for those who are just now following the issue of conflicts of interest and the WHO Consultative Expert Working Group (CEWG) on R&D Financing.

The CEWG follows a controversial, flawed and failed effort by an earlier group, the WHO Expert Working Group (EWG) on R&D Financing, to:

Continue Reading →

At the end of the day on Monday, the 128 WHO Executive Board meeting took the agenda item for creation of a new R&D Financing consultative expert working group (CEWG). (Yesterday’s blog on this topic is here)

Continue Reading →