As the 126th session of the Executive Board (EB) of the World Health Organization unfolds today, it appears that the EB will consider agenda item 4.3 on Public health, innovation and intellectual property: Global strategy and plan of action. Under scrutiny will be the work of the Expert Working Group on research and development financing which is mandated by resolution WHA61.21
The following is a letter sent by Cecilia López Montaño, a member of the WHO Expert Working Group on R&D Financing to the WHO Executive Board:
Dear members of the Executive Board:
I am Cecilia López Montaño, senator of the Colombian Congress and member of the Expert Working Group on Research and Development Financing of the World Health Organization, in representation of the point of view of developing countries, I assume.
At the proverbial 11th hour today, the World Health Organization published the final report of the “World Health Organization Expert Working Group on Research and Development Financing” in English three days before the commencement of the 126th session of the WHO Executive Board on January 18, 2010. At this juncture, it does not appear that the WHO Secretariat has made available official versions of this Report in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish for Member States’ consideration.
The World Health Organization’s Expert Working Group on R&D Financing spent scant attention on how to raise money, but showed considerable interest in how to spend it. The clear favorite approach is to give grants to product development partnerships — the approach that has now become the most conventional approach, and one not surprisingly endorsed by the PDPs themselves, and also by the Gates Foundation and the IFPMA — two groups that are often seen as devoted to protecting the status quo in terms of intellectual property and business models for innovation.
The World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board will soon consider the Executive Summary of the Report of the Expert Working Group on Research and Development Financing, a document, formally identified as EB 126/6 Add.1.
In the section of the report on “Funding allocation proposals,” the EWG considers two types of innovation inducement prizes, including
31 (c) milestone prizes; and
31 (d) end-prizes (cash)
On February 8, 2010, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) will hold a ” Symposium on the Evolution of the Regulatory Framework of Test Data – From the Property of the Intellect to the Intellect of Property“.
Thank you Mr Chairman,
I represent the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), which works to serve the 2 million people with sight loss in UK.
As part of this work, RNIB has a library of some 40,000 books in audio, large print and Braille, which we distribute to reading disabled people.
Most accessible books are made by specialist organisations like ours, even in cases where publishers provide licenses or the source files. These specialist organisations have limited resources, and are very often charities.
La Organización Nacional de Ciegos de España (ONCE) agradece la oportunidad que nos ha brindado de tomar la palabra en esta importante sesion del SCCR para pedir el apoyo a la propuesta de tratado de la Union Mundial de Ciegos, organización de la que la ONCE es miembro.
La ONCE da servicio exclusivo a sus afiliados, que han de ser personas ciegas y deficientes visuales con nacionalidad española. Actualmente la ONCE tiene 70000 afiliados, y su número crece en 4000 cada año.
The National Organization of Spanish Blind Persons, ONCE is the Spanish institution providing services to blind and visually impaired persons. This is their statement at WIPO SCCR 19, in both English and Spanish:
In Spanish
La Organización Nacional de Ciegos de España (ONCE) agradece la oportunidad de tomar la palabra en esta importante sesion del SCCR para pedir el apoyo a la propuesta de tratado de la Union Mundial de Ciegos.