Focus

• To ensure more affordable access to essential medicines and to promote innovation to address neglected diseases and health priorities in a post-TRIPS world;
• Assessment of public policy tools to better align public health and industrial innovation policies;

Highlights of Activities 2010

• Brazil: study to asses role of policy tools such as public procurement, public production, and public financing of R&D to ensure more affordable access to essential drugs (especially ARVs) and to strengthen domestic capabilities in a critical knowledge intensive sector; [See forthcoming publication by Waldemiro Junior and Radhika Lal]
• IBSA Academic Forum (Brasilia April 13, 2010) Session on Health Innovation, IPR and Access to Essential Drugs to explore experiences and emerging policy options at the global and national level;
• India and China (forthcoming) : studies and policy briefs to assess how health and pharmaceutical policies could be better aligned and to explore the development of innovation and production capabilities in the context of the conventional and traditional medicine pharmaceutical sectors.