On Saturday, 29 January 2022,Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) delivered the following statement on the Global strategy and plan of action on public health, innovation and intellectual property at the 150th session of the World Health Organization’s Executive Board.
Access to medicines for all will not be achieved until governments reform the incentives to invest in R&D.
Monopolies lead to high prices, and high prices are the enemy of universal access. The incentives to invest in R&D should no longer be tied to the prices of products or to the grant of a monopoly.
The WHO should create a working group to discuss, propose and evaluate strategies to progressively delink R&D incentives from high prices or monopolies.
We also call on member states to support the WHO Secretariat in promoting transparency in, and understanding of, the costs of research and development. Without reliable information regarding the cost of R&D, the cost and results of clinical trials, private sector expenditure on the development of products, and expenditures on marketing and revenues, it is hard to design alternative policy measures to reduce the current prices.