Global Equity and Intellectual Property

As usual, Indonesia is foremost on my mind these days.  From the Intellectual Property Watch blog, this post by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen provides an interesting analysis of the current impasse on virus sharing.  Apparently, Indonesia may have a sovereign right to viruses circulating in the country, since the Convention on Biological Diversity (to which Indonesia is a party) protects countries' ownership of genetic material.  They may have a sovereign right to it -- this hasn't exactly been tested.  I've heard someone at the World Bank suggest the same thing.  I'm no expert on intellectual property, so I'll let the IP-Watch post speak for itself:

Indonesian Avian Flu Stance Reveals Potential Weakness in Global System

The Indonesian government’s reluctance to share avian influenza virus samples to help develop a global vaccine for humans has revealed a weakness in the international flu research system related to developing countries’ concern with the impact of intellectual property rights on public health.

Developing countries are concerned that if they supply avian influenza virus samples for free to the international health community under the World Health Organization (WHO) system, the samples will be used to develop patented vaccines targeted to wealthy countries and too expensive for developing countries to purchase. The market for traditional influenza vaccines has been in industrialised countries, so it has been a “north-north process,” a WHO official told Intellectual Property Watch. 

“We are very worried,” an Indonesian official told Intellectual Property Watch, adding that there is an “unfair mechanism” regarding the sharing of samples of viruses. Some manufacturers will use the samples to develop vaccines, but there is no guarantee that poor developing countries such as Indonesia would be provided with the vaccine, as manufacturers’ production capacity is only 40 million, he said, referring to the more than 6 billion people in the world. There is a “high gap in demand and supply,” he said.

Indonesia is the hardest-hit country in terms of human deaths from avian influenza, according to the WHO, which said there has been a total of 277 cases of avian flu in human beings worldwide.

The sharing of virus strains links into another current IP policy issue. The virus samples taken from people affected by H5N1, the most common avian flu virus, also may be considered genetic material to which, according to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), countries have a sovereign right. If others want to use the genetic material to develop a medicine, for example, they would have to ask permission, disclose the source of the material, and share the possible benefit of the outcome with the owners of the genetic material.

But as the CBD is soft law and not legally binding, a number of developing countries are pushing to amend the legally binding World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to include this requirement in patent applications. The relationship between the CBD and TRIPS is one of the most important issues for developing countries in the current round of trade liberalisation negotiations at the WTO, referred to as the Doha Round.

continue reading this post at Intellectual Property Watch....

Comments

[james]

I saw your page at http://bellagio.typepad.com/main/2007/03/global_equity_a.html and wanted to suggest a resrouce to add: http://www.FreePatentsOnline.com. This site allows free patent searching, free PDF downloading, free alerts, and more. It is a good resource for IP attorneys, patent searchers, scientific researchers, students, and small businesses.

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It's true that the sharing of virus strains links into another current IP policy issue.

-James

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Hi great article I really enjoy reading this blog,thanks, good topic Typically, influenza is transmitted through the air by coughs or sneezes, creating aerosols containing the virus. Influenza can also be transmitted by direct contact with bird droppings or nasal secretions, or through contact with contaminated surfaces. Airborne aerosols have been thought to cause most infections, although which means of transmission is most important is not absolutely clear. Influenza viruses can be inactivated by sunlight, disinfectants and detergents. As the virus can be inactivated by soap, frequent hand washing reduces the risk of infection.
thanks