Médecins Sans Frontières, the International Centre
for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) and the University
of Amsterdam organised a roundtable discussion entitled “Reflecting
on Recent Developments and Future Challenges in the area of
Access to Medicines, IP and Health Innovation”, on Friday
27th of March 2009, 14h45-16h45 at Room B, Centre International
de Conférences CICG, Genève, (17 Rue de Varembé
17. 1211 Geneva, CICG).
From the recent seizures of generic drugs in transit to announcements
by some major pharmaceutical companies in relation to patent
pools and cheaper drugs for the poorest countries, both issues
of access and innovation remain pressing concerns on the global
agenda.
MSF, ICTSD and the University of Amsterdam invited a number
of scholars and experts to reflect on the status and future
prospects of access to medicines and health innovation.
The keynote speakers were Ellen’t Hoen and Frederick Abbott
Ellen’t Hoen, UNITAID
Senior Advisor on IP & Medicines Patent Pool and formerly
Director of Policy and Advocacy at MSF, has been closely involved
in the most important developments on issues relating to access
to medicines and intellectual property in the past decade. She
presented her book The
Global Politics of Pharmaceutical Monopoly Power , in which
she suggests that a policy agenda for access and health innovation
needs to tackle the fundamental question of how to create incentives
for R&D that do not create access barriers.
Research on this book was conducted by the author as a fellow
of the IS (international cooperation) Academy HIV/AIDS, a partnership
program of the Amsterdam School for Social science Research
(University of Amsterdam) and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign
Affairs.
Professor Frederick Abbott, a Professor of Law, Florida
State University College of Law, is a well known international
expert on IP and health and has been a consultant to many governments,
international organizations and NGOs in this area.
A number of experts and negotiators also addressed the meeting.
The presentations will be followed by a discussion with participants.
