IP for Social Benefit. By Laura McNeill.
A number of leading pharmaceutical companies and research
institutions have agreed to share valuable intellectual property and expertise
to promote the development of drugs, vaccines and diagnostics for the treatment
of neglected tropical diseases, malaria and tuberculosis.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates one billion
lives are impaired by neglected tropical diseases, predominantly in remote
areas of poorer countries where the economic incentive to perform research and thus
develop the necessary treatments is low. Difficulty arises in treatment of malaria
and tuberculosis as resistance to the cheapest and most used drugs is
spreading, particularly in the world’s poorest countries. Furthering the
problem is the existence of cross-resistance between drugs belonging to the
same chemical family. There are currently 17 neglected diseases listed by the
WHO including Chagas disease, dengue fever, human African trypanosomiasis,
leishmaniasis, and many others.
The partnership, named ‘WIPO Re:Search’, has been launched
by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and will provide a searchable,
public database of IP assets, information and resources for qualified
researchers world-wide helping develop the lab expertise and resources
available to developing countries. The database can be explored by either a
structured search or by a key-word search with the results displayed by
provider, disease or data type. Information surrounding individual compounds,
unpublished results, screening hits from compound libraries, patents and patent
rights, regulatory dossiers, new research and development methods and
technology will be made available; new partnerships among organisations will be
both facilitated and encouraged. There is also a “partnership hub” where
members can network and learn more. IP will be licensed via WIPO Re:Search on a
royalty-free basis, for research and development in any country and for the
sale of medicines in least developed countries.
Companies involved include Alnylam, AstraZeneca, Eisa,
GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer and Sanofi. They will collaborate with
WIPO, BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH), the US National Institutes of Health
and other public research organisations thereby establishing a broad and
diverse coalition scope with members from across the globe in a wide variety of
sectors. A challenge of this scale requires input from industry, academia, NGOs
and governments to work together to develop new tools and approaches. Innovative
partnerships such as WIPO Re:Search will enable public health information such
as health outcomes and mortality to be generated.
Pharmaceutical companies are aware that being involved with
socially responsible projects could have a positive impact when it comes to
investor decision making. They could further help by making more expertise
available, donating equipment and sending their scientists to developing
countries where they could help them capitalise on the information provided by
Re:Search. Collaborations like these save money by preventing duplicated
research and medical discoveries are accelerated. If the project is a success
it may stimulate the formation of future partnerships which will help
accelerate the development of treatment for other diseases.
Concern about the limitations of the partnership has been
raised by a number of key organisations. WIPOs focus on strictly
least-developed countries raises the issue that many of the patients most in
need may be missed by the project. The current UN definition of LDCs includes
33 countries in Africa, 15 in Asia (including several small island nations),
and one in Latin America (Haiti). For example, Médecins Sans Frontières noted
that “In the Americas, Chagas disease affects 21 countries but the Consortium
will only provide royalty-free licences for Haiti, where Chagas is not endemic”.
There is also a high degree of difficulty in coordinating such large scale
projects and checking the data shared is of value; it is hoped that unhelpful
data will not be shared by companies who are only interested in getting their
name involved to improve their public image.