WHO ADDRESSES TRADE, HEALTH, IP, AND INNOVATION

Issues related to trade, research and development, and intellectual property rights featured on the agenda during the 23-27 January meeting of the Executive Board (EB) of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva. All three were forwarded to the World Health Assembly, the organisation's principal decision-making body, which is scheduled to meet there from 22-27 May.

The EB, whose rotating membership comprises persons technically qualified in the field of health designated by the 32 WHO member governments elected to three-year terms, determines the agenda of the World Health Assembly. Although only 32 countries at a time are represented on the EB, non-members of the EB are allowed to participate and intervene during the meeting. Similarly, NGOs that have been accredited to the WHO are also allowed to make statements.

Proposal for Resolution on International Trade and Health Approved

The EB swiftly approved a resolution on 'International Trade and Health' (EB117.R5), following up on a draft tabled at last year's EB meeting by Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, China, Iraq, Jamaica, Kenya, Nepal, Sudan, Thailand, Tonga and Viet Nam last year (see BRIDGES Weekly, 1 June 2005). The resolution emphasises the need for more information on the implications of international trade and related agreements for public health, as well as greater policy coherence between trade and health policy. To facilitate this process, the resolution urges governments to promote dialogues on the interlinkages between trade and health, and to adopt policies that address the issues identified.

According to a WHO official, this draft resolution is an important step for creating greater policy coherence between trade and health policy, as it provides public health officials with support for engaging further with trade policy-making processes than has generally been the case.

The resolution will now be tabled for consideration at the upcoming WHA.

CIPIH Report Delayed

In February 2004, the Director-General of the WHO created a Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and Public Health (CIPIH) in response to members' concerns. Its mandate was to "collect data and proposals from the different actors involved and produce an analysis of intellectual property rights, innovation, and public health." It was to pay particular emphasis to funding mechanisms and incentives for developing new medicines for diseases that primarily affect developing countries.

The CIPIH's members, chaired by former Swiss President Ruth Dreifuss, were supposed to come to an agreement on the text of the report in time for this year's EB meeting. However, during the gathering, Dreifuss announced that the report's release would be delayed. The WHO secretariat explained that the delay was due to an additional meeting in mid-January "to refine [the report's] recommendations. The CIPIH was able to finalise the text at the additional meeting, which took place on 16-17 January. The redrafted document has now been circulated to the commission members, and is expected to be finalised and translated into six languages by the end of March or beginning of April, in time to be presented to the WHA in May. Once adopted by the independent CIPIH, the report will not be subject to further changes by the WHA. A sub-group of the EB, however, will review it and provide an additional report to the WHA.

In a parallel development, the very integrity of the much-awaited report was called into question when Intellectual Property Watch, a Geneva-based independent news service, alleged that the report had been leaked in autumn 2005 to Eric Noehrenberg of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations in Geneva, who had subsequently made comments on it in electronic format. Noehrenberg, however, denies having seen the text or commented on it.

A new framework for essential health R&D

In the final hours of the gathering, the EB agreed to send a draft resolution for a 'Global Framework on Essential Health Research and Development' (EB117/Conf. Paper. 3), originally proposed by Kenya and Brazil, to the WHA for its consideration. The resolution urges member states to make global health and medicines a priority in research and development, particularly with regard to the needs of patients in poor countries.

Although the resolution was approved by the EB, approximately half of its text remains in brackets, i.e., not finalised, and will be considered by the WHO's 192 members at the WHA. Nevertheless, health activists hail the development as a success.

The text calls on the Director-General "...to establish a working group of interested member states to consider proposals to [establish a global framework for supporting] needs-driven research..." and urges them "...[to encourage that bilateral trade agreements take into account the flexibilities contained in the WTO TRIPS Agreement and recognized by the Doha Ministerial Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health]." The draft resolution contains bracketed text providing for the working group to make a first report at the 2007 WHA, with a final report at the WHA of the following year. The report is charged with proposing "[alternative simplified systems for the protection of intellectual property, with a view to enhance accessibility to health innovations and building capacity for product development uptake and delivery in developed and developing countries...]."

While the resolution recognizes "[...the promise of new, open models for the development of medical science, enhanced participation in, and access to, scientific advances, and increased knowledge…]" it also recognises "...that intellectual property rights are one of several important tools to promote innovation, creativity, and the transfer of technology."

Several countries expressed support for the initiative, including Bolivia, Lesotho, Bhutan, Sudan, Guinea Bissau, and Thailand, as did many civil society organisations and other concerned individuals. Notably, Sir John Sulston, a Nobel laureate in medicine, read out a public statement by more than 200 scientists who supported the proposal and expressed their concern about the current mechanisms to improve public health globally "...at a time of huge progress in basic science and more money being spent on biomedical research and development than ever."

ICTSD reporting; "Intellectual property rights, innovation and public health," REPORT BY THE WHO SECRETARIAT (EB117/9), 22 December 2005; "WHO IP Commission Seeks To Overcome Leak Of Report To Industry," INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY WATCH, 23 January 2006; "R&D resolution, with brackets, to be transmitted to WHA," SOUTH-NORTH DEVELOPMENT MONITOR, 29 January 2006; "WHO to decide on medical R&D," FINANCIAL TIMES, 30 January 2006; "WHO Board Wrestles With IP And Public Health Report, R&D Proposal," INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY WATCH, 27 January 2006.