South Centre: Medicines and Intellectual Property: 10 Years of the WHO Global Strategy
In this research paper, Germán Velásquez, special adviser for health and development at the South Centre, examines “the negotiating process and the steps given for the implementation of the
World Health Organization (WHO) Global Strategy on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property (resolution WHA61.21) 10 years after its May 2008 approval.” According to the paper’s abstract, “One of the objectives of the [Intergovernmental Working Group on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property’s] Global Strategy and Plan of Action was to substantially reform the pharmaceutical innovation system in view of its failure to produce affordable medicines for diseases that affect the greater part of the world’s population living in developing countries. The intellectual property (IP) rights imposed by the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and the trade agreements could become some of the main obstacles to accessing medicines. The [Global Strategy and Plan of Action on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property (GSPOA)] made a critical analysis of this reality and opened the door to the search for new solutions to this problem. Ten years after the approval of the GSPOA, the results are uncertain and poor” (December 2019).