India’s PM wants country to be world leader in IP

According to an article in the Economic Times, India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently made a forceful plea for fostering an environment that promoted scientific advancement in the country to help it become a “world leader” in creating intellectual property.

“Innovation and knowledge will be the key-factors in our progress in the 21st century,” said the Prime Minister.  ”We must, therefore, foster an environment that promotes and nurtures scientific achievement and makes us a world leader in creating intellectual property.”

Singh also said that scientific and technological prowess was key to the country’s development, noting that ”scientific development is an integral part of the journey towards inclusive, balanced and sustainable growth.”

US releases IP enforcement strategy

Today, Vice President Joe Biden and Victoria Espinel, Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, released the U.S. government’s official IP enforcement strategy.  The plan — developed following extensive public consultation — identifies 33 key action items to combat intellectual property infringement, both domestically and internationally.

Download the PDF to read the complete 2010 Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement.

The following are highlights from Vice President Joe Biden’s remarks, delivered today at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building:

Whether we’re talking about fake drugs that hurt instead of help the patient or knockoff car tires that fall apart at 65 miles an hour causing injury and death, counterfeits kill — counterfeits kill.  There’s a reason why they counterfeit, they don’t know how to do it in the first place.

But to state it very bluntly and obviously, piracy hurts.  It hurts our economy to the tune of billions — some argue tens of billions of dollars — in lost private sector profit and government revenue.  It hurts our health and safety, the health and safety — that’s why the FDA commissioner is here, in part.

Piracy is theft, clean and simple.  It’s nothing but theft.

Innovation, IP & India – commentary from the Indian pharmaceutical industry

Ranjit Shahani, President of the Organization of Pharmaceutical Producers of India released the following statement on Intellectual Property Day concerning the effect drug patent protection is having on innovation in India:

Emotion tends to override facts when it comes to patents and patients’ concerns. Consider the fears stoked when India joined the World Trade Organization in 1995. Many feared drug prices could rise, access to medicines could be reduced and many Indian pharmaceutical companies could close down.

Fifteen years later, these fears have proved unfounded: Drugs in each category are available at multiple price points, accessibility is clearly independent of patents, and Indian companies have become multinationals and enter[ed] foreign markets worldwide.

When India reinstated patent protection via IPR (intellectual property rights) reforms, many feared this would lead to decreased access to medicine and delayed entry of generic medicines. Despite the lack of pharmaceutical patents in India for 35 years and some of the lowest prices for medicine in the world, access to medicine in India remained among the lowest in developing nations. In other words, patents have little to do with the ability to access medicines.

While many try to point fingers at drug patents and IPR protection, the lack of healthcare financing and particularly health insurance are the real culprit[s]. Limiting the types of innovations which receive patent protection, as India currently does, won’t improve the health of Indians.

Small innovations that build on existing knowledge are the true backbone and a specific strength of the pharma industry. Yet, Indian laws prohibit certain types of pharmaceutical innovations from patent protection, thereby discouraging research. Indeed, this policy hurts Indian patients the most.

There are many meaningful benefits of continued research on existing medicines. For instance, drug formulations and delivery systems can be optimised for greater effectiveness in India’s hot, humid climate. Paediatric formulations could be developed for babies suffering from diseases more often found in adults. It could also promote the development of treatment for diseases prevalent in India — tuberculosis, malaria, filariasis and other tropical diseases — where breakthroughs are unfortunately rare.

Innovation, research and patent protection are critical to introducing new drugs into the market. Innovations and effective drugs are inseparable, as diseases constantly mutate and many have inadequate treatments

Without patent protection, innovations decline, as R&D needs immense investments. Due to high, ever-increasing R&D costs, only two in 10 approved medicines earn more than the average cost of developing a new drug. Statistics are telling: a new drug discovery cost around $138 million in 1975, $318 million in 1987 and more than $1.3 billion in 2006.

The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, has acknowledged the critical role of innovation at the 97th Indian Science Congress held in Thiruvananthapuram recently: “Our Government has declared 2010-20 as the ‘Decade of Innovations’. We need new solutions in many areas… in healthcare, in energy, in urban infrastructure, in water management, in transportation… The country must develop an Innovation Eco-system to stimulate innovations… And innovative solutions with potential must be nurtured and rapidly applied.”

As we take a look at drug patents on Intellectual Property Day, we must not forget the important role they play in keeping India and the world healthy. With viruses that mutate constantly — HIV/AIDS, H1N1, and TB — incremental innovations are imperative to stay one step ahead in the war against disease. If all innovations are protected to expand treatment options, millions of patients in India and worldwide will benefit. At stake are not just patents, but the lives of millions.

World IP Day – 10th Anniversary

Yesterday marked the 10th anniversary of World Intellectual Property Day.  Francis Gurry, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization commented that “Innovative technologies are creating a truly global society. The intellectual property system is part of this linking process. It facilitates the sharing of information. It provides a framework for trading and disseminating technologies. It offers incentives to innovate and compete. It helps structure the collaboration needed to meet the daunting global challenges, such as climate change and spiraling energy needs, confronting us all.”

IP rights provide a structure for the sharing of information, but also protect it’s use in the short term – providing incentives not only for innovation but also the sharing of knowledge.

In a separate speech to mark World IP Day, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said “Let’s be clear: IP (intellectual property) theft in overseas markets is a job killer, and it’s an export killer.”

Health, Safety and IP – a public consultation

The newly appointed Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator in the U.S. has recently initiated a public consultation on the health-related costs and risks of intellectual property infringement.  The consultation (open to individuals, patient groups, NGOs, academics and other interested parties) is asking for comments on:

- safety issues resulting from IP infringement (such as counterfeit and/or sub-standard medicines)

- economic costs of IP infringement (research that shows intellectual property accounts for 20 percent of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) and nearly 40 percent of U.S. economic growth).

Deadline: Submissions must be received on or before Wednesday, March 24, 2010, at 5 p.m.

How to submit: Submissions should be sent electronically to intellectualproperty@omb.eop.gov.

More information on the consultation (PDF)

Japan, China Start Group on Intellectual Property Rights

Bloomberg reported that Economic ministers from Japan and China will start a working group on protecting intellectual property rights as part of an effort to tighten economic ties during the global recession.

Asia’s two largest economies agreed to set up a working group to discuss intellectual property, implement economic measures pledged at the Group of 20 meeting in April and cooperate on development in Africa and other poorer regions.

A Nigerian perspective on access barriers to medicines and treatment

What are the real access barriers to healthcare for people in Sub-Saharan Africa?  The following article from the Wall Street Journal Europe provides an interesting perspective on the healthcare challenges in Nigeria, with a focus on AIDS patients.  Mr. Ayodele states that the “real causes of restricted access to to AIDS drugs are Africa’s derelict transportation systems, widespread corruption and poor utility infrastructure.”

Moreover, he cautions that counterfeit and low-quality drugs are a serious threat — as they not only don’t provide patients with effective treatment, but may also speed drug resistance.

Dangerous AIDS Policy
Drug patents are not the problem.

By THOMPSON AYODELE | LAGOS, Nigeria
November 30, 2008

Today, as we mark World AIDS Day, we should take stock of the suffering this disease continues to inflict, particularly in developing countries.

Twenty-five years after the disease was first discovered, AIDS continues to claim around two million lives each year. As an African, I’ve witnessed the suffering first-hand. My home region of sub-Saharan Africa has 12% of the world’s population, but accounts for two-thirds of those infected with AIDS and 75% of all AIDS-related deaths.

Western activists continue to blame the high price of drugs for the disease’s continued prevalence in Africa. They argue that poor countries should be permitted to break pharmaceutical patents to produce cheap knock-off versions at home.

Unfortunately, the activists are not just wrong; their policy proposal is flat-out dangerous. The real causes of restricted access to AIDS drugs are Africa’s derelict transportation systems, widespread corruption and poor utility infrastructure.

Most of the high-quality AIDS drugs that Africa imports have to be transported over vast distances and stored for extended periods of time before they can be distributed. But the roads and warehouses in most African countries are poorly maintained. Electricity, needed to keep drugs refrigerated, is scarce. Corrupt officials often exploit weaknesses in the supply chain, and extort hefty bribes from aid personnel.

In 2001, African leaders pledged to invest 15% of their budgets in health-care infrastructure. Seven years later, very few have come even close to meeting that commitment. Nigeria, for example, devotes less than 6% of its budget to health. Most of Africa’s impoverished people still lack health insurance. Medical workers earn low wages, which has led to low morale and a dearth of qualified personnel. The National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwifes says the country’s hospitals urgently need 300,000 additional nurses.

The trade policies of African governments often make the AIDS problem worse. Generic drugs imported into Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are subject to a 10% tariff. The rate jumps to 40% in Sierra Leone, and to 50% in Kenya. Nigeria charges an import tariff of up to 39%.

Giving African governments the power to locally manufacture patent-protected pharmaceuticals will likely result in patients receiving low-quality drugs. In Thailand and India, for example, locally produced Aids drugs are often of such low quality that they’re actually fueling drug resistance.

Western drug companies have already gone to great lengths to make their drugs affordable to the world’s poorest patients. Many use tiered pricing models, in which Western customers pay substantially higher prices than people in poor countries. And just last year, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck and Pfizer donated hundreds of millions of dollars worth of drugs to Africa.

On World AIDS Day, it’s important to look at how the West can better assist the developing world in its battle against this deadly disease. But we cannot forget that local governments need to play their part as well. Instead of meddling with patent protections, without which there would be no drug innovation, they need to clean up their policies.

Mr. Ayodele is executive director of Initiative for Public Policy Analysis.

New National Intellectual Property Strategy for Barbados

Experts from the public and private sectors participated yesterday in a National Consultation on the Formulation of a National Intellectual Property Strategy for Barbados, hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and International Business.

Donville Inniss, the Minister of State in the Ministry of International Business said the strategy would assist in realizing the full potential of intellectual property in Barbados and the benefits that can be derived.

There can be no doubt that without a national intellectual property strategy, a country will experience many challenges in encouraging, promoting and protecting indigenous creativity and innovation.

The Consultation highlighted intellectual property strategies and key recommendations from intensive working group sessions.  The meeting was designed to stimulate public awareness of the various aspects of intellectual property and show how such valuable assets can be developed and managed efficiently to enhance the social and economic advancement of Barbados.

References:
Nation News
Caribbean Press Releases

Members of WHO Expert Working Group on R&D Financing announced

IP Watch reports that the World Health Organization has released a long-awaited list of high-level experts tasked with finding innovative funding mechanisms for needed medical research on neglected diseases. The list largely contains governmental and intergovernmental representatives.  The list of Expert Working Group members is available from the WHO website.

This group will examine current financing and coordination of research and development, as well as proposals for new and innovative sources of funding to stimulate research and development related to Type II and Type III diseases and the specific R&D needs of developing countries in relation to Type I diseases.

The group includes representatives from developed and developing nation governments, international organisations, think tanks and academia. The group is expected to report to the WHO Executive Board meeting in January 2009.

Some initial commentary on the Working Group includes:

• A developed country official said it is “a pretty good group” and “I look forward to following their work.”
• Richard Kjeldgaard, associate vice president for international intellectual property at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said the group looks “forward to working with the expert group as they examine proposals for new and innovative funding sources” aimed at addressing developing country needs. 
• Sisule Musungu, president of think tank IQsensato, cautioned that high credentials alone “will not resolve the question, since the problem requires interdisciplinary analysis… and thinking ‘outside the box.’” The group’s “willingness to learn” and to “listen to a variety of ideas” will be critical, he added.

Strong IP system boosts knowledge economy development

Strong intellectual property protection is essential to the economic growth of developing countries, according to a senior official with the World Intellectual Property Association.   “It is a myth and complete misunderstanding to think that IP protection is not important. It is relevant to all countries wanting to build up their economy,” stated the WIPO official.

Ensuring strong intellectual property protection also encourages innovation, which is particularly important as it relates to medical innovation.  Patients around the world benefit from the development of new medical treatments as well as improvements to existing technologies, products and processes.

Malaysian National News Service – Strong IP System To Boost Knowledge Economy Development
GENEVA, Nov 14 (Bernama) — A strong intellectual property (IP) system not only boosts but forms an essential component of a countrys development of its knowledge-based economy, says a senior official with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

“It is a myth and complete misunderstanding to think that IP protection is not important. It is relevant to all countries wanting to build up their economy,” said Yo Takagi, an executive director with WIPO.

Today’s economic growth is being led by innovation where it has surpassed labour and productivity growth in some countries, he said.

“Knowledge-based international trade in the recent decades has increased and on a global average it has overtaken the trade of resource-based products,” Takagi said during a seminar on IP here for journalists from 25 developing countries and countries in transition.

In the share of exports comprising manufactured products globally by technology, in the last 30 years, middle-tech products have remained in the upper rung, while high-tech products have begun to surpass that of lower tech products and resource-based products, he said.

There is no denying that innovation in all areas has become the driving force of economic growth and with this, the increasing importance of properly placed IP laws which will protect the owners of such properties and rightfully the economic benefits that they will be able to derive from their innovations, Takagi said.

“Twenty-eight years ago, IP was covered by dust, nobody thought of it as an important aspect of economic development. A good IP system will both nurture the growth of intellectual properties and their protection against various infringements,” he said.

An IP is broadly described as an authentic creation, big or small, whether of a complete product or part of product, a technology as well as creative works like designs and writing, and it can be the creation of a company or an individual. It gives the creator of the entity the right to protect the work or entity lawfully, whether through the ownership of a patent, copyright and trademark.

All intellectual properties are economic tools and as such they should be rightfully protected and respected. But in reality, it is not always so.

While there are various international and national laws governing patents, copyrights and trademark, the infringements are wide and many, often going across borders.

The infringements are plenty and the area of IP has remained a major challenge for policy makers as well as legal practitioners in the field amid the growing challenges and technologies thrown in by the new media like the Internet.

Among others, education, establishing national systems of innovation, IP institutions are all factors that will contribute towards using IP as a tool for development and will also enhance a nation’s competitiveness when participating in the global market, Takagi said.

Malaysia has been one of the earliest countries in the Asian region to sign on a WIPO treaty. In 2007, it was among the top 10 developing countries filing for patents with the WIPO.

The origin of WIPO dates back to the late 19th century with the adoption of the first international IP treaty, the Paris Convention for the protection of industrial properties. Today, it is one of the 16 specialised agencies of the United Nations.