Nearly 2 billion people have no access to basic medicines. High prices of medicines linked to current patent-centred and market-driven model of R&D, challenge implementing Agenda 2030, guided by the principle “leave none behind”. Alternative innovation models based on “de-linking” costs of R&D and prices of the medicines need to evolve in order to improve access to medicines.
Given its mandate and the role in global heath governance, in 2011 the WHO has developed Global Strategy and Plan of Action on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property.Several Reports an the evalutions have been issued by the Expert group, Secretariat and Director General since then. The The full reportof the overall programme review and recommendations were issued in November 2017 (EB142/14). In March 2018 WHO Director General has presented its Reporton “Global strategy and plan of action on public health, innovation and intellectual property”, where emphasised the crucial
importance of developing alternative “sustainable financing mechanisms” for research and the need to manage IP to contribute to innovation and public health. Unofrtunately, recent thirteenth general programme of work 2019-2023 (GPW13), strongly influenced by the Agenda 2030, hasn’t addressed the issues of alternative funding models for research, access to innovation and IP rights in a meaningful way. Eventhough, nearly uninversal consensus about the fundamental importance of access to medicines and vaccines for universal health coverage (target 3.8., SDG3) has been achieved, there is no consensus about the IP regime for achieving the ambitious targets.
A number of civil organizations call the WHO upon to make a more meaningful contribution to ongoing discourse on access to innovation and medicines, that “goes beyond monitoring and coordination” and support the feasibility studies for developing alternative innovation models of R&D in order to delink the cost of innovation from the prices of medicines. In its last policy brief: “The Way forward on access to medicines”, Health Action International (HAI) has recommended the WHO to “explore the possibility of an international treaty on biomedical research and present the options to member States”.
