SpicyIP Tidbit: WHO adopts resolution on public health, innovation & intellectual property

Readers may remember Sumathi's extremely detailed post on the WHO's Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) meet last month. As Sumathi put it "The fulcrum of the debate is nothing new: that the IP system, as it exists today, does not create economic incentives for private players to invest in research and development (R&D) for neglected diseases". Last week the WHO finally came out with a resolution after two years of hard work by the IGWG. The substance of the resolution is nothing but old wine in a new bottle. The significance of it however is the fact that this time the governments of the world have agreed to the specific wording of the resolution and have thus acknowledged the roadblocks being faced by R&D into neglected diseases.

The ICSTD paper summarizes the content of the resolution as follows:

the Global Strategy stipulates that "research and development of developed countries should better reflect the health needs of developing countries." While it recognises that intellectual property rights (IPRs) are an important incentive for the development of new products, it also states that "this incentive alone does not meet the need for the development of new products to fight diseases where the potential paying market is small or uncertain."

On this premise, the strategy encourages governments to consider new ways to stimulate research and development into health treatment for diseases that disproportionately affect developing countries. Examples of potential tools include prizes to reward drug development, a biomedical research and development (R&D) treaty, and patent pools, in which patent holders share technology to provide a common platform for further innovation.