Global Forum on Intellectual Property, Access to Medicines and Innovation*
A Global Forum on Intellectual Property, Access to Medicines and Innovation will be held on 9-10 December 2019 in Munich, Germany. This Global Forum is a joint effort of the South Centre and the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition. The Global Forum will bring together policy makers and leading academic figures to examine how intellectual property policy and law are evolving to incorporate public health considerations. Discussions will centre on recent national experiences and policy choices available to governments. The Forum will serve to support evidence-based policy making and building intellectual property regimes in developing countries that are supportive of the goals of public health, in particular to promote access to health for all.
South Centre Statement to the United Nations High Level Dialogue on Financing for Development
Four years after its adoption, Agenda 2030, “Transforming Our World,” the United Nations’ (UN) most recent and most ambitious development agenda, is off-track. Various estimates of the spending needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) range from $1 to $3 trillion. Domestically mobilized resources are critical to achieve these goals. A main source of the inadequate scale of public revenues are shortfalls in corporate tax collection, which are largely explained by international corporations hosted by or doing businesses in developing countries that take advantage of facilities offered by the international tax standards and practices to avoid full payment of taxes in those countries. A substantive global reform process involving a variety of multilateral platforms is underway. The question is not whether the system of global tax standards and practices will change, but in what direction it will change. Drawing lessons from the developing country context will be critical if the ongoing process of global tax reform will benefit developing countries and achieve substantial success in generating the income needed to effectively attain the SDGs.
South Centre Statement at the United Nations High Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage
Access to health is a human right and Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is essential to achieve health for all. States should ensure through public funding, based on solidarity and the fair redistribution of wealth, that nobody is deprived from health care. Policies that promote competitive markets for pharmaceuticals, particularly in the area of procurement, regulatory approvals (including biologicals) and intellectual property, should be implemented. Governments should make use of the available space in the TRIPS Agreement to apply rigorous definitions of invention and patentability standards and use other flexibilities allowed.Below is the South Centre’s Statement to the UN High-Level Meeting on UHC held on 23 September 2019 at the UN headquarters in New York. The Centre noted the recognition, in the draft political declaration, of the responsibilities of governments as well as of their right to choose their own path towards achieving UHC.
South Centre Statement on Access to Biosimilars/Biogeneric Medicines at the WHA 72
The revision of the guidelines on similar therapeutic products mandated by Resolution WHA67.21 is crucial for promoting the availability of and access to biosimilars. The reduction in prices ensuing from the introduction of these products has become essential to address public health needs in developed and developing countries. The WHO Document A72/59 under consideration by the WHA 72 (agenda item 21.3) states in paragraph 80 that “WHO expert committees have approved guidance on (…) biotherapeutics, including an update of the 2009 similar biotherapeutic products guidelines”. This statement is not accurate, as the guidelines were not updated as mandated by Resolution WHA67.21. Below is the South Centre statement in relation to this issue.
South Centre Statement at the Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Health Ministers
Dr. Carlos Correa, Executive Director of the South Centre, stressed the need to preserve the World Health Organization (WHO) as a public, independent agency that effectively addresses the health problems of developing countries, at the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Health Ministers Meeting held on the occasion of the 72nd World Health Assembly. Below is the statement of the South Centre delivered at the Palais des Nations, Geneva on 21 May 2019.
Statement by His Excellency Thabo Mbeki on the occasion of the meeting of the Board of the South Centre
Below is the statement of His Excellency Thabo Mbeki, former President of the Republic of South Africa, and new Chair of the Board of the South Centre, upon conclusion of the 41st meeting of the Board of the South Centre, held on 11 October 2018 at the South Centre in Geneva.
Statement by the South Centre to the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit
At the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit , the South Centre highlighted Nelson Mandela’s battle against apartheid, which was a main obstacle to social development, and against actions by pharmaceutical companies to enforce intellectual property standards that would prevent access to HIV/AIDS drugs.
Statement by the South Centre to the Third High-Level Meeting on the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases
Below is the statement by the South Centre to the Third High-Level Meeting on the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) during the 73rd session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly held on 27 September 2018 at the UN headquarters in New York.
Statement by the South Centre at the High Level Meeting on the Fight to End Tuberculosis
Below is the South Centre statement at the High Level Meeting on the Fight to End Tuberculosis during the 73rd session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly held on 26 September 2018 at the UN headquarters in New York.
South Centre Statement to the WIPO Assemblies 2018
The South Centre is the intergovernmental organization of developing countries with 54 member States across Africa, Asia and Central and Latin America, that is supportive of multilateral work towards an inclusive, balanced and flexible international intellectual property system that benefits all countries and all types of users.
The South Centre is pleased to announce that it is scaling up its services to developing country governments in the area of intellectual property rights and public health, thanks to the support of Unitaid. The project “Expanding the use of TRIPS flexibilities to promote affordable access to medicines” will allow the South Centre to roll out a number of training activities at regional and national level and a global advisory service on the use of TRIPS flexibilities for public health.
South Centre Statement for the Informal Consultation on the Roadmap on Access to Medicines
The draft roadmap is an important work in progress that needs to be further detailed with clear deliverables and timelines. The roadmap will need to ensure complementarity of its work and the implementation of the Global Strategy and Plan of Action on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property (GSPOA).
