Transcript Summary of the Chair

Summary of 3rd CEWG meeting
by Chair and Vice-Chair
Open Session
CEWG on R&D Financing and Coordination
November 18, 2011
Administrative
• Two members were unable to attend
the meeting for personal reasons (Dr
Hossein Malekafzali from Iran and Mr
Shozo Uemura from Japan)
• No new disclosures or material
changes in conflict of interest
Prior to the meeting
• WHO proactively approached each region
for consultations. The following
consultations were held:
– AFRO – August 27th
– EURO – October 5th
– PAHO – November 7th
– SEARO – October 7th
– WPRO – October 13th
(a special session during an international conference in Barcelona)
(a virtual consultation)
Minutes are available on the website.
Prior to the meeting (cont.)
• A small, working meeting took place
September 18-20 in Oslo to look at
proposals that required further analysis.
Six members were invited (one from each
region), however, AFRO representative
could not attend:
– The Chair (EURO, Norway)
– The Vice Chair (PAHO, Brazil)
– EMRO rapporteur (Lebanon)
– SEARO rapporteur (India)
– WPRO rapporteur (Philippines)
Prior to the meeting (cont.)
• First drafts of the report chapters
including revised assessments were
prepared and distributed to CEWG
members.
At the meeting
• The drafts of the report chapters and
assessments were reviewed in detail.
• WHO Legal Counsel presented the
different mechanisms for making
normative instruments under the WHO
constitution: Articles 19 (conventions), 21
(regulations) and 23 (recommendations).
• The Framework Convention for Tobacco
Control was presented.
Proposals meeting CEWG criteria
• A globally binding instrument
• Direct grants to companies in developing
countries
• Equitable licensing
• Patent pools
• Pooled funds
• Precompetitive R&D platforms / Open
source and access
• Prizes
Proposals meeting CEWG criteria less
well or not directly related to R&D
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Green intellectual property
Health Impact Fund
Orphan drug legislation
Priority review voucher
Purchase or procurement agreements
Tax breaks for companies
Transferable IP rights
• Regulatory harmonization
• Removal of data exclusivity
Recommendations
• Open knowledge innovation
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Equitable licensing
Patent pools
Precompetitive R&D platforms / Open source and access
Prizes, in particular milestone prizes
• Direct grants to companies in developing countries
• Pooled funding
• Convention
– “A binding global instrument for R&D and innovation for health”
• Coordination mechanisms
• Strengthening capacity in and technology transfer to
developing countries
Binding global instrument (Convention)
• Because current funding is insufficient and
global coordination is necessary to find
solutions to the global disease burden,
• CEWG recommends a binding convention
(under article 19 of WHO constitution) for
R&D related to Type II and III diseases
and the specific R&D needs of developing
countries in relation to Type I diseases.
Principles behind a binding instrument
• Open knowledge innovation, de-linkage,
competition, access and strengthening
innovative capacity in developing countries
• Global coordination mechanism
• Call for increased public investment
• Mechanism for redistributing resources
• Pooling of funds to meet these aims
• Not a replacement for the existing IPR
system, instead supplements where the
current system does not function
Preliminary financing recommendations
– Government commitments
• Total public funding of health R&D
– (2% of health budget)*
– To be defined as proportion of GDP
• Public funding of R&D on technologies for type III, II + DC I
– To be defined as proportion of GDP
• Public funding to global pool
– To be defined as proportion of GDP
• Proportion of health development aid (ODA) to health R&D
– 5%*
*Commission on Health Research for Development 1990
Financing
• Governments should consider different forms of
revenue generation to meet the proposed
funding commitments.
• Taxes on activities harmful to populations’ health
(e.g. tobacco, alcohol, etc.) may be appropriate
and earmarked for health R&D.
• If member states introduce any international
indirect tax like the financial transaction tax, a
portion of the revenues should be dedicated to
global health R&D.
• Voluntary private funding to global pooled
funding mechanism
Coordination
• WHO should play a central role in global
coordination and management
– Advisory function: Utilize ACHR and regional
ACHR
– Sharing/learning: Convene the R&D funders (e.g.
HIROS) in multi-stakeholder forums for
knowledge-sharing and coordination
– Monitoring & evaluation: «Global Health R&D
Observatory» with regional functions
• Need for regional and national coordination
• Utilize existing structures/institutions where
appropriate, including with regard to global
pooled funding mechanism
Recommendation summary
• Convention
• Open knowledge innovation
• Direct grants to companies in developing
countries
• Pooled funding
• Coordination
• Strengthening capacity in and technology
transfer to developing countries
Next steps
• Complete the analytical work as a means
of building a platform for the
commencement of formal negotiations
• Finalize the report (by Q1 2012)
• Propose the establishment of an
intergovernmental body and a technical
committee to specify the content and
begin formal negotiations
• WHA discussions and resolution
Questions?