E-DRUG: NEWS on European Commission position at the WHA
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WHA latest: European Commission against Global Framework for
essential health R&D
We have obtained information on the position of the European
Commission on the R&D resolutions. The EC seems to:
- Reject any proposal towards establishing a global framework
for R&D, and claim that new structures are not needed – they are
prescribing more of the same;
- seek instead to promote a system based on incentives –
without specifying who would benefit from these incentives;
- seek greater involvement of regional economic groupings,
which would increase the involvement of DG trade in this debate;
- propose, instead of an intergovernmental working group, a
working group including WIPO and the Commission;
- consider it outside the WHO’s mandate to explore alternative
systems for the protection of IP with a view to enhancing access to
health innovations and building capacity for product development,
uptake and delivery in developed and developing countries.
- tout the role of intellectual property in bringing knowledge
into the public domain and in promoting follow-on research, thus
contradicting the core findings of the Commission on Intellectual
Property, Innovation and Public Health report (CIPIH);
This position taken here by the European Commission surprises
everyone as it goes against the views of Commissioner Kyprianou
(SANCO) who publicly welcomed the proposal for a global framework on
essential health R&D made by Kenya and Brazil. We hope that EU
Member States reject this position and fully support the Kenya and
Brazil in their efforts to start discussions on new ways of
developing essential health tools.
This is what we have learnt so far - we will update you as things go on.
Ellen ‘t Hoen
MSF
ellen.t.hoen@paris.msf.org