To focus attention on the growing importance of intellectual property rights (IPR) in furthering the public health agenda, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India and WHO Country Office for India jointly organized a symposium on public health and intellectual property rights issues in India on 2 July 2014 in New Delhi.
Speaking about the initiative, Dr Nata Menabde, WHO Representative to India said, “India has made a significant progress in the past decade in establishing a successful intellectual property structure in compliance with Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), and in accordance with its developmental needs and priorities.”
“The symposium oriented the participants on specific issues of intellectual property rights, which have close linkages with important public health issues,” she added.
The past few years have seen a series of important developments, which have shaped and crystallized the country’s policy in the area of IPR related to public health. The symposium familiarized the participants with current developments in IPR issues relating to access to medicines, IP issues relating to biologicals and IP linkages in multilateral and bilateral investment treaties. The discussion also provided an opportunity to platform other challenges and issues in global health diplomacy, which need to be addressed.
The symposium was attended by senior government officials, policymakers, international organizations, academicians, NGOs, legal fraternity, and IPR experts.
Participants articulated a strong need for a platform where all the stakeholders could be brought together and their views and perspectives consolidated in the form of recommendations for the Government. They offered support to WHO in carrying forward the work in this area.
The participants requested WHO to offer a platform to voices from across the spectrum and play a facilitation role in the process of promoting a sound regulatory environment to the health sector.