Read this article in Japanese here.

Japan is now serving a three-year term on the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Executive Board, a key decision-making body that guides the WHO’s work on global health. Alongside thirty-three other countries on the Executive Board, the Japanese delegation will attend the 144th session of the Executive Board in January 2019 to discuss topics ranging from polio eradication to the health implications of climate change.  

But perhaps the most important topic on the Executive Board’s agenda is the WHO’s proposed Roadmap on Access to Medicines. This Roadmap sets priorities for the next five years of the WHO’s work on medicines around the world. As an Executive Board member, Japan will help shape the discussion about how the WHO should approach this issue. 

Unfortunately, the WHO’s Roadmap, as proposed by the WHO’s Secretariat, has serious problems that Member States need to fix. For example, the Roadmap envisions an expanded WHO role advising countries on intellectual property, such as the use of “compulsory licenses” (sometimes called “TRIPS flexibilities”) to allow the manufacture of patented medicines without the patent owners’ consent. This is unnecessary and would gravely harm global innovation – making it harder for patients to access today’s medicines and undermining investment in tomorrow’s new treatments and cures.

The WHO’s Roadmap reflects a tendency at the WHO to see patents as a barrier to access.  But this isn’t true: research has found no correlation between intellectual property and access to medicines.  Nearly all the drugs the WHO deems “essential” are already off-patent yet still out of reach for millions due to other factors, such as weak and underfunded health care systems.  Strengthening IP can actually facilitate access, both by stimulating new discoveries and making it easier for innovative medicines to reach patients that need them.  

The WHO is also ill-suited to make these recommendations: it lacks the expertise to advise countries on the complex technical, economic and trade implications of intellectual property (IP) protections. Many countries have already raised concerns that the WHO should not spend its limited resources working on such polarizing tasks that are unlikely to improve access to medicines. 

WHO Executive Board members need to step up—and speak out—about the vital role of IP in spurring new discoveries. In the past, Japan has promoted a global innovation ecosystem and encouraged world leaders to solve real, tangible barriers between patients and the medicines they need.

Take Japan’s patent figures, for example. In 2017, Japan filed 1,372 biotechnology patents under the Patent Cooperation Treaty—a nearly 21 percent increase over the prior decade—which places Japan second in the world, behind only the United States. Moreover, according to the most recent figures, in a single year over $13 billion were invested in pharmaceutical industry research and development (R&D. These impressive figures have helped Japan rank as the top country in the world on innovation quality, per the World Intellectual Property Organization’s 2018 Global Innovation Index.

Japan’s statements in recent international meetings show Japan has made significant progress in promoting and protecting the knowledge, IP and entrepreneurship that drive global innovation. It understands that comprehensive solutions are needed to overcome the many barriers that can stand between patients and the medicines they need.

• At the 2018 World Health Assembly, the Japanese delegation stated, “Improving access to medicines and vaccines in each country requires a comprehensive approach taking various factors in to account…not only intellectual property rights and drug prices but also national health administration, the quantity and quality of human resource for health, access to medical facilities, and the supply system for medicines and vaccines.”
• In the same statement at the 2018 World Health Assembly, the Japanese delegation underscored the importance of R&D for global health progress, stating, “We believe that promotion of research and develop is an important element to strengthen the health system and realize universal health coverage.”
• In written comments submitted last summer on a previous draft of the Roadmap on Access to Medicines, Japan cautioned against the promotion of TRIPS flexibilities by the WHO—and noted that such a role is out of the WHO’s scope—stating “It seems to be out of WHO’s mandate to provide ‘technical support’ about TRIPS provisions since TRIPS is under the WTO framework.”

These statements show Japan’s deep commitment to furthering innovation so that patients around the world can access today’s treatments and tomorrow’s cures.

As the WHO Executive Board considers how to improve access to medicines, Japan has an opportunity to rebut the idea that weakening IP will do anything to improve access. As a global health leader and major funder of development assistance, Japan can help focus the WHO on tackling the real barriers to access, such as weak and under-funded health care systems, poor infrastructure and taxes/tariffs. In particular, Japan should speak out clearly at the Executive Board meeting to convey concerns about the Roadmap and ensure it does not lead to expanded WHO activities that would undermine IP globally.

Now’s the time to act. Patients around the world depend on the Japan and the other Executive Board members to lead the charge on proactive and comprehensive solutions that address the real and complex obstacles to better global health.