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Re: [ox] Free pharma research?



Hi lists!

4 days ago Stefan Merten wrote:
The medicines-sans-frontiers (Ärzte ohne Grenzen) together with others
founded the "Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative":

	http://www.dndi.org/

From their front page:

  DNDi, the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative, is a
  not-for-profit initiative that aims to research and develop drugs
  for millions of people debilitated by neglected diseases by using
  existing R&D capacity in both rich and poor countries. It also aims
  to raise awareness of the need for immediate action in this field.

This *may* be an initiative for developing patent free drugs. However,
I didn't find about their position on patents. On their contact form
therefore I asked them

  The web site seems rather new so my question may be answered by the
  web site in the future. However, at the moment I can't find an
  answer to this question: What is the position of DNDi to patents and
  other intellectual property issues? Of course I'm particularly
  interested in potential intellectual property issues rising from the
  activity of DNDi itself.

If I get an answer I'll ask whether I may distribute the answer to you.

I got an answer including the brochure I finally found at

	http://www.accessmed-msf.org/upload/ReportsandPublications/19220031120226/DNDi.pdf

There is a paragraph about this issue (page 8):

  Legal and regulatory issues: DNDi will give serious consideration to
  Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues when deciding on projects,
  and adhere to drug regulations.

  * IPR issues: DNDi will develop an IPR policy with the following
    imperatives in mind: to develop drugs as public goods whenever
    possible and ensure that these are affordable to patients who need
    them. The policy will also consider the fact that its outputs are
    unlikely to have any commercial value and that R&D agreements will
    often be made with public sector entities. DNDi will negotiate
    with IPR owners to obtain the best possible conditions under which
    drugs can be made accessible to patients.

So they are not excluding patents but try to make them "human".

Nearby at

	http://www.accessmed-msf.org/campaign/faq.shtm

I found this statement by MSF:

  31. Is MSF against patents?

      MSF does not oppose patents. Nor does MSF advocate for
      abolishing the patent system. But protecting human life must
      take precedence over protecting intellectual property. The
      imbalance that exists between the sanctity of patents and the
      health of people today must be corrected.

      MSF supports measures such as compulsory licensing, parallel
      imports, and mechanisms to accelerate the introduction of
      generics, to help counter the adverse effects of patent
      protection on public health in developing countries. MSF
      believes that these measures are possible under current
      international WTO rules. However, should continued practise
      demonstrate that the so-called safeguards of current trade rules
      don't work, MSF will advocate for a full revision of the TRIPS
      agreement

That's all I found out for the moment. Other may discover more
interesting details.


						Mit Freien Grüßen

						Stefan

________________________________
Web-Site: http://www.oekonux.de/
Organisation: projekt oekonux.de



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