Read this article in German here.
In early February, health experts from Germany and 33 other countries will convene at the 146th session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board. These delegates form the key decision-making body that guides the WHO on global health, touching on diverse topics ranging from vaccines and food safety to maternal, newborn and child nutrition. As a leader on global health and development, Germany has great influence on the Executive Board, where other countries listen carefully to its views.
This year the Executive Board will revisit the WHO’s Global Strategy and Plan of Action on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property (GSPOA). Negotiated for many years and approved by consensus in 2008, the GSPOA is a framework to help countries set policies to drive discovery of new treatments and cures for diseases that disproportionately affect developing countries. Critically, the GSPOA recognized the importance of intellectual property (IP) protections as “an important incentive in the development of health care products.”
Unfortunately, there have been efforts to refocus the GSPOA on issues that would harm innovation, both for developed and developing countries. Rather than strengthen the IP protections that support health care innovation, some groups have urged governments to weaken them, for example, by breaking patents on new inventions – a drastic action known as compulsory licensing. But studies continue to refute the flawed notion that intellectual property protections prevent patients from accessing new technologies and point to many others barriers that stand in the way
In the past, Germany has strongly valued and defended intellectual property rights, as well as biomedical research and development, recognizing that “for entrepreneurial creativity and innovation to reach their full potential, businesses need a good governmental framework that is as unbureaucratic as possible.” The focus on innovation can be seen in the country’s robust biopharmaceutical market. In 2018, for example, Germany approved 38 new biopharmaceuticals – more than ever before – and set a record by growing the biopharmaceutical workforce by 5.7 percent to 49,700 employees.
The February 2020 WHO Executive Board meeting is an excellent opportunity for Germany to underscore the value of intellectual property on the global stage – and help to find real solutions to pressing global health challenges.
Further, statements in recent international meetings echo their support of innovation:
- At the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Assemblies this fall, Germany underscored that “intellectual property rights are not only essential for enterprises and developers. Consumers and the whole of society also benefit substantially from knowledge-driven innovation… the [intellectual property] system is a decisive driver for innovation and creativity both at the national and the international level.”
- In comments on the Roadmap to Access during the 2018 World Health Assembly, Germany’s delegate to the WHO cautioned that we must “employ an approach which correctly depicts the role of IP as stimulator for innovation in the medical treatment of patients,” and recognized that we must take IP into account as “incentive in research and clinical progress.”
The February 2020 WHO Executive Board meeting is an excellent opportunity for Germany to underscore the value of intellectual property on the global stage – and help to find real solutions to pressing global health challenges.
For example, Germany can help prompt a serious conversation about better using incentives, including intellectual property, to spur more research and development into diseases affecting the developing world. Germany can also stress the need for countries, at all levels of development, to have strong health care systems that enable universal access to safe and affordable medicines.
