In early February, health experts from Singapore 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.
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, Singapore has strongly valued and defended intellectual property rights, as well as biomedical research and development, recognizing that “research, innovation and enterprise are cornerstones of Singapore’s national strategy to develop a knowledge-based innovation-driven economy and society.” The focus on innovation can be seen in the country’s robust biopharmaceutical market. In 2016, for example, Singapore filed 99 biotechnology patents and most recent research and development (R&D) figures show an investment of $625.5 billion, in line with prior years.
The February 2020 WHO Executive Board meeting is an excellent opportunity for Singapore 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. For example, during the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Assemblies this fall, Singapore underscored that “in our future world, IP [intellectual property] will no longer just be an economic output but an input for products, services, companies and jobs. In this future world, IP will morph from a technical, specialized topic to a subject of relevance and interest to our citizens, our companies and our institutions. We must continue being the best IP registries and regulators that we can be, but we believe that we should also look towards transforming ourselves into innovation agencies, helping our creators, our entrepreneurs, our enterprises take their ideas to the market and have a positive impact on society.”
The February 2020 WHO Executive Board meeting is an excellent opportunity for Singapore to underscore the value of intellectual property on the global stage – and help to find real solutions to pressing global health challenges.
For example, Singapore can help prompt a serious conversation about better using incentives, including intellectual property, to spur more R&D into diseases affecting the developing world. Singapore 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.
The WHO Executive Board meeting will touch on many of the factors that hinder access and increase what patients pay for medicines, such as weak and under-funded health care systems, poor infrastructure, taxes/tariffs, and costly supply chains. Patients worldwide depend on Singapore and other Executive Board members to tackle these obstacles and advance comprehensive solutions to improve global health.
