scholarly journals Medicines and Intellectual Property: 10 Years of the WHO Global Strategy

Author(s):  
Germán Velásquez
Author(s):  
Maximiliano Santa Cruz ◽  
Pedro Roffe

The adoption in 1994 of the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Trade Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) meant the incorporation of intellectual property as an important component of the international trading system. It meant also an end to the exclusive treatment of intellectual property issues in the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). TRIPS meant also, the end of the accepted practice of excluding pharmaceutical products and or processes from patent protection, a practice that was particularly important for developing countries. This note reviews recent developments at the multilateral level after the adoption of TRIPS, namely the adoption of the Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health in 2001 and the subsequent decision to amend the TRIPS for the effective use of the compulsory licensing system; the adoption of the Development Agenda by the WIPO General Assembly in 2007 and related recent developments in WIPO; and finally the adoption of the Global strategy and plan of action on public health, innovation and intellectual property by the 61st World Health Assembly in 2008. One common feature of these developments is the attempt to bring some balance to the international intellectual property system that has been characterised by an upward tendency to strengthen private rights and their enforcement to the detriment of public interest considerations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordão Lima ◽  
Sueli Dallari

Resumo A aprovação da Estratégia Global e do Plano de Ação sobre Saúde Pública, Inovação e Propriedade Intelectual (GSPOA, do inglês Global Strategy and Plan of Action on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property), no âmbito da Organização Mundial da Saúde (OMS), está baseada na percepção da necessidade de melhoria nas condições de acesso dos países em desenvolvimento a medicamentos e outros produtos que atendam às suas necessidades específicas de saúde pública. Nesse contexto, o escopo desta consiste em perscrutar a implementação, no Brasil, do primeiro elemento da GSPOA, que se refere ao estabelecimento de uma ordem de prioridade das necessidades de pesquisa e desenvolvimento. Trata-se de estudo de caso, enquanto método de investigação qualitativa. Partindo de uma perspectiva crítica e de marcos teóricos consagrados, buscou-se situar a GSPOA num contexto de saúde transnacional em uma era de globalização e pontuar os desafios para implementar mais completamente um direito à saúde que transcenda os medicamentos e as exigências individuais. Conclui-se que, para o período de 2008 a 2015, o Brasil logrou êxito em desenvolver metodologias e mecanismos para identificar e divulgar as lacunas nas pesquisas de doenças de maior incidência no país e suas consequências na saúde pública, orientando o desenvolvimento de produtos terapeuticamente viáveis e a preços acessíveis.


2008 ◽  
Vol 34 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 257-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Lerner

Recent activity at major intergovernmental organizations reflects a renewed emphasis on making the international intellectual property system work to foster global health in developing countries. The World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”) recently approved a historic “Development Agenda” – a wide-ranging set of reforms that reorients WIPO towards development and reconfigures how the organization makes policy, provides technical assistance, and is administered. Such an initiative may seem natural for the only inter-governmental organization (IGO) that is focused primarily on intellectual property, but such reforms are not restricted to WIPO. The World Health Organization (“WHO”) has launched its own development agenda of sorts – an Intergovernmental Working Group on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property (“IGWG”) that is tasked with preparing “a global strategy and plan of action” aimed at “securing an enhanced and sustainable basis for needs-driven, essential health research and development relevant to diseases that disproportionately affect developing countries, proposing clear objectives and priorities for research and development, and estimating funding needs in this area.”


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document