E-DRUG: Open letter to WHO & Member States re global pool for rights to data, knowledge & technologies useful for prevention, detection & treatment of Covid-19
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Dear E-drug readers,
See below the letter a large group of people signed in support of the proposal by Costa Rica to the WHO to create a global pool for rights to data, knowledge and technologies useful in the prevention, detection and treatment of Covid-19.
The Letter from Carlos Alvarado Quesada, Presidente de la República, Costa Rica, and Daniel Salas Peraza, Ministro de Salud, Costa Rica, is available here.
https://www.keionline.org/wp-content/uploads/President-MoH-Costa-Rica-Dr-Tedros-WHO24March2020.pdf
A press release from the President is available here.
https://www.presidencia.go.cr/comunicados/2020/03/costa-rica-propone-a-oms-facilitar-condiciones-de-acceso-a-tecnologias-para-combatir-covid-19/
A Spanish translation of our letter is available here.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/185y0v9F3fYIUb4hi1QUgqweKbYugPzkUbJJ4CHd8A9E/edit
[There is a very long list of supporting organisations and individuals
Please find it here. BS Moderator
https://www.keionline.org/32599 ]
Feel free to add your voice and share this with your government and your networks.
Kind regards,
Ellen 't Hoen
"Ellen 't Hoen" <ellenthoen@medicineslawandpolicy.net>
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Open letter to the World Health Organization (WHO) and its Member States on the proposal by Costa Rica to create a global pool for rights in the data, knowledge and technologies useful in the prevention, detection and treatment of the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic
Posted on March 27, 2020 by James Love
https://www.keionline.org/32599
March 27, 2020.
We are writing to ask the WHO and its Member States to support the proposal by Costa Rica for the creation of a global pooling mechanism for rights in the data, knowledge and technologies useful in the prevention, detection and treatment of the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic.
(Copy of letter from Carlos Alvarado Quesada, Presidente de la República, Costa Rica, and Daniel Salas Peraza, Ministro de Salud, Costa Rica, to Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, available here).
Costa Rica correctly saw this as a pool with a diverse set of rights, including those relating to patents on inventions and designs, regulatory test data, research data including outcomes, know-how, cell lines, copyrights and blueprints for manufacturing, as these rights relate to equipment, diagnostic tests, devices, medicines, vaccines, and other medical tools.
Such a pool would allow for competitive and accelerated production of needed COVID-19 technologies, and expand our capacity to address the need for affordable products for all.
The inputs to such a pool could come from governments that fund research and development or buy innovative products, as well as from universities, research institutes, charities, private companies and individuals who control rights.
The WHO should immediately reach out to Member States that are funding biomedical research relevant to the current pandemic, and engage other rights holders as well.
We recognize that some governments and other entities may be reluctant to openly share technologies globally, such as by open licensing or licensing on reasonable and affordable royalties, when there is uncertainty about whether others will make similar commitments.
To move forward as quickly as possible, and consistent with the Costa Rica proposal, the WHO can put forth an initial phase-one agreement that creates the bare minimum legal basis to permit such assignments/licenses in the future, such as by including options in funding contracts, and create a process for working out the details at a later date, including the ultimate decisions on which technologies to share, and the terms of the authorizations, including possible remuneration. As rights holders work with the WHO and deepen their understanding of the challenges we face in responding to the pandemic, the logic and benefits of cooperation and global pooling will be compelling.
The most important and needed element today is leadership, to convince those funding R&D or buying innovative products that in this emergency, the broadest sharing of technology could save the most lives. Moreover, and this needs to be addressed in funding agreements, now.
signatures of Organisations and Individuals
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Ellen 't Hoen LLM, PhD | Medicines Law & Policy
www.medicineslawandpolicy.org
E-mail: ellenthoen@medicineslawandpolicy.net