We are writing to ask the WHO and its Member States to support the proposal by Costa Rica for the creation of a global pooling mechanism for rights in the data, knowledge and technologies useful in the prevention, detection and treatment of the coronavirus\/COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
(Copy of letter from Carlos Alvarado Quesada, Presidente de la Rep\u00fablica, Costa Rica, and Daniel Salas Peraza, Ministro de Salud, Costa Rica, to Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, available\u00a0here<\/a>).<\/p>\n Costa Rica correctly saw this as a pool with a diverse set of rights, including those relating to patents on inventions and designs, regulatory test data, research data including outcomes, know-how, cell lines, copyrights and blueprints for manufacturing, as these rights relate to equipment, diagnostic tests, devices, medicines, vaccines, and other medical tools.<\/p>\n Such a pool would allow for competitive and accelerated production of needed COVID-19 technologies, and expand our capacity to address the need for affordable products for all.<\/p>\n The inputs to such a pool could come from governments that fund research and development or buy innovative products, as well as from universities, research institutes, charities, private companies and individuals who control rights.<\/p>\n The WHO should immediately reach out to Member States that are funding biomedical research relevant to the current pandemic, and engage other rights holders as well.<\/p>\n We recognize that some governments and other entities may be reluctant to openly share technologies globally, such as by open licensing or licensing on reasonable and affordable royalties, when there is uncertainty about whether others will make similar commitments.<\/p>\n To move forward as quickly as possible, and consistent with the Costa Rica proposal, the WHO can put forth an initial phase-one agreement that creates the bare minimum legal basis to permit such assignments\/licenses in the future, such as by including options in funding contracts, and create a process for working out the details at a later date, including the ultimate decisions on which technologies to share, and the terms of the authorizations, including possible remuneration. As rights holders work with the WHO and deepen their understanding of the challenges we face in responding to the pandemic, the logic and benefits of cooperation and global pooling will be compelling.<\/p>\n The most important and needed element today is leadership, to convince those funding R&D or buying innovative products that in this emergency, the broadest sharing of technology could save the most lives. Moreover, and this needs to be addressed in funding agreements, now.<\/p>\n Organizations (alphabetical order)<\/strong><\/p>\n Alianza LAC-GLOBAL por el Acceso a Medicamentos Global Health Law Committee, International Law Association<\/strong><\/p>\n Individuals (alphabetical order)<\/strong><\/p>\n Barbara Handelin, PhD, CoFounder, Audacity Therapeutics More information in <\/a>this article by Brook <\/a>Baker.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We are writing to ask the WHO and its Member States to support the proposal by Costa Rica for the creation of a global pooling mechanism for rights in the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11407,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[309],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-slider-en"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nAmerican Medical Student Association
\nAssocia\u00e7\u00e3o Brasileira Interdisciplinar de AIDS (ABIA)
\nComit\u00e9 de Veedur\u00eda y Cooperaci\u00f3n en Salud de Colombia (CVCS) \/ Health Oversight and Cooperation Committee (CVCS)
\nCreative Commons Ecuador
\nFUNDACION IFARMA \u2013 Colombia
\nFundaci\u00f3n V\u00eda Libre
\nGlobal Justice Now
\nGrupo de Trabalho sobre Propriedade Intelectual (GTPI)
\nHealth Action International
\nHealth GAP (Global Access Project)
\nIncentives for Global Health
\nJust Treatment
\nKnowledge Ecology International
\nKorean Pharmacists for Democratic Society(KPDS)
\nKorean Federation Medical Activist Groups for Health Rights (Association of Korea Doctors for health rights, Association of Physicians for Humanism, Korean Dentist\u2019s Association for Healthy Society, Korean Pharmacists for Democratic Society, Solidarity for worker\u2019s health)
\nLawyers Collective
\nMisi\u00f3n Salud
\nObservatorio Iberoamericano de Propiedad Intelectual (OBIPI)
\nPeople\u2019s Health Institute (Korea)
\nPublic Citizen
\nPublic Eye
\nRed Latinoamericana por el Acceso a Medicamentos (RedLAM)
\nSalud por Derecho
\nSalud y F\u00e1rmacos EEUU
\nSELACC (the secretariat of C\u00e1ritas Latin America and the Caribbean)
\nSTOPAIDS
\nT1International
\nTreatment Action Group
\nUAEM Europe
\nUnion for Affordable Cancer Treatment (UACT)
\nUniversities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM)
\nWemos<\/p>\n\n
\n
\nCarol A. Nacy, Ph.D., CEO, Sequella, Inc.
\nCharles Clift
\nClaudia Vaca, Profesora asociada, Directora Centro de Pensamiento: \u201cMedicamentos, Informaci\u00f3n y Poder\u201d, Universidad Nacional de Colombia
\nDiane Singhroy, PhD, Virologist
\nDr. Andrew Hill, Honorary Visiting Senior Research Fellow, University of Liverpool
\nDr. Carina Vance, former Minister for Public Health (Ecuador), former Director of the South American Institute of Governance in Health (ISAGS) of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).
\nDr. Guillaume Long, former Minister of Foreign Affairs (Ecuador)
\nDr. Hern\u00e1n N\u00fa\u00f1ez Rocha, former Director of the Ecuadorian patent office
\nDr. Jennifer Sellin, Assistant Professor Dept. of International & European Law, Faculty of Law, Maastricht University, Maastricht Centre for Human Rights
\nDr. Ren\u00e9 Ram\u00edrez Gallegos, former Minister of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation in Ecuador
\nDr Ruth Lopert MD MMedSc FAFPHM, Director, LWC Health
\nEllen \u2018t Hoen LLM PhD, Director, Medicines Law & Policy
\nFifa Rahman, PhD Candidate, Intellectual Property and International Trade, University of Leeds
\nGregg Alton, Former Chief Patient Officer Gilead Sciences, Inc.
\nHannes Braberg, PhD, Staff Scientist at University of California, San Francisco
\nJennifer Cohn, MD MPH, Assistant Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
\nJennifer Milena Bueno, SLP MsC, Coordinadora CVCS, Investigadora en comunicaci\u00f3n-educaci\u00f3n en salud
\nJordan Jarvis, MSc, DrPH Candidate, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK; Visiting Researcher, MAP-Centre for Urban Health Solutions, St. Michael\u2019s Hospital, Toronto, Canada
\nJorge Bermudez, MD, DSc; Public Health Researcher at Fiocruz, former Executive-Director of UNITAID, former Member of the UN Secretary-General High-Level Panel on access to Medicines
\nKatrina Perehudoff MSc LLM PhD, Post Doctoral Research Fellow, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Canada, Post Doctoral Assistant (\u2018doctor assistent\u2019), Department of Public Health & Primary Care, Ghent University, Belgium
\nLilianne Ploumen, Member of Parliament, PvdA Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, Curative care and She Decides
\nLuc Denys, Belgium, jurist, retired J & J
\nLuis Villarroel Director, Corporacion Innovarte, Ex Miembro Tribunal Propiedad Industrial de Chile
\nLuz Marina Umbasia Bernal, GHP Corp.
\nManuel Becerra Ram\u00edrez, Universidad Nacional Aut\u00f3noma de M\u00e9xico
\nMarcel Canoy, economist, Erasmus School of Accounting and Assurance
\nOscar Lizarazo-Cort\u00e9s, Universidad Nacional de Colombia-Sede Bogot\u00e1
\nPaul Fehlner, President & CEO, reVision Therapeutics, Inc.
\nPeter B. Bach, MD, MAPP, Director, Center for Health Policy and Outcomes, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
\nProf. Brook K. Baker, Northeastern U. School of Law, Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy, and Senior Policy Analyst, Health GAP
\nProf. Dr. H.D. Banta, former director of the Health Program US Congressional Office of Technology Assessment and former Deputy Director of the Pan American Health Organization
\nProfessor Paulo D. Picon MD, PhD, Full Professor of Internal Medicine, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
\nRafael P\u00e9rez Miranda, Universidad Aut\u00f3noma Metropolitana
\nSol Terlizzi, Academic Coordinator, Master in Intellectual Property, FLACSO Argentina
\nSuerie Moon, MPA, PhD, Co-Director, Global Health Centre, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva
\nTony Quinones, Bright Path Laboratories, Inc.
\nYannis Natsis, Management Board member, European Medicines Agency.<\/p>\n
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