[ox-en] Re: [ox] Free pharma research?
- From: Stefan Merten <smerten oekonux.de>
- Date: Fri, 08 Aug 2003 22:00:28 +0200
Hi lists!
4 days ago Stefan Merten wrote:
The medicines-sans-frontiers (Ärzte ohne Grenzen) together with others
founded the "Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative":
http://www.dndi.org/
From their front page:
DNDi, the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative, is a
not-for-profit initiative that aims to research and develop drugs
for millions of people debilitated by neglected diseases by using
existing R&D capacity in both rich and poor countries. It also aims
to raise awareness of the need for immediate action in this field.
This *may* be an initiative for developing patent free drugs. However,
I didn't find about their position on patents. On their contact form
therefore I asked them
The web site seems rather new so my question may be answered by the
web site in the future. However, at the moment I can't find an
answer to this question: What is the position of DNDi to patents and
other intellectual property issues? Of course I'm particularly
interested in potential intellectual property issues rising from the
activity of DNDi itself.
If I get an answer I'll ask whether I may distribute the answer to you.
I got an answer including the brochure I finally found at
http://www.accessmed-msf.org/upload/ReportsandPublications/19220031120226/DNDi.pdf
There is a paragraph about this issue (page 8):
Legal and regulatory issues: DNDi will give serious consideration to
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues when deciding on projects,
and adhere to drug regulations.
* IPR issues: DNDi will develop an IPR policy with the following
imperatives in mind: to develop drugs as public goods whenever
possible and ensure that these are affordable to patients who need
them. The policy will also consider the fact that its outputs are
unlikely to have any commercial value and that R&D agreements will
often be made with public sector entities. DNDi will negotiate
with IPR owners to obtain the best possible conditions under which
drugs can be made accessible to patients.
So they are not excluding patents but try to make them "human".
Nearby at
http://www.accessmed-msf.org/campaign/faq.shtm
I found this statement by MSF:
31. Is MSF against patents?
MSF does not oppose patents. Nor does MSF advocate for
abolishing the patent system. But protecting human life must
take precedence over protecting intellectual property. The
imbalance that exists between the sanctity of patents and the
health of people today must be corrected.
MSF supports measures such as compulsory licensing, parallel
imports, and mechanisms to accelerate the introduction of
generics, to help counter the adverse effects of patent
protection on public health in developing countries. MSF
believes that these measures are possible under current
international WTO rules. However, should continued practise
demonstrate that the so-called safeguards of current trade rules
don't work, MSF will advocate for a full revision of the TRIPS
agreement
That's all I found out for the moment. Other may discover more
interesting details.
Mit Freien Grüßen
Stefan
_______________________
http://www.oekonux.org/