Thiru Balasubramaniam

[Reposted from keionline.org] As mentioned in a previous piece, the trilateral report by the secretariats of the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), Promoting Access to Medical Technologies and Innovation: Intersections between public health, intellectual property and trade, covers a lot of ground including but not limited to: 1) the global burden of disease and global health risks, 2) health and human rights, 3) access to essential medicines: an indicator for the fulfillment of the right to health, 4) public health, innovation and access in the WHO, 5) intellectual property systems, 6) competition policy, 7) free trade agreements, 8) the current R&D landscape, 9) new approaches to innovation for neglected diseases, 10) WHO Expert Groups on R&D Financing, 11) generic medicines policies, price controls and reference pricing, 12) pre-grant and post-grant review procedures and 13) review of IP provisions in recent FTAs.

At the launch of the report, a Geneva-based diplomat drew KEI’s attention to the report’s treatment of human rights, particularly in the context of the right to health. The diplomat noted that the report’s references to the obligations to safeguard the right to health in the context of public health and trade rules would have been unthinkable 10 years ago. Continue reading »