World Health Day

We, the undersigned, demand from our governments policies that treat pharmaceuticals as global public goods and limit the power of pharmaceutical companies in the public interest; a policy that is geared to the health needs of the people.  Proposals have been on the table for years. The framework for this fundamental policy change would be the immediate introduction of an international treaty to be negotiated by the World Health Organization, in which governments commit themselves to the obligatory, coordinated research and development of new essential medicines, diagnostics and vaccines. Because this fundamental change of direction has yet to be achieved politically, the following measures must be taken immediately: The establishment of a global patent pool for the simple and cost-effective handling of licensing agreements, based at the WHO. The improvement of data and price transparency in research, development and sales in order to make knowledge widely available and prices fai...

Do you know what evergreening is? Sounds nice, but it's an extremely unfair strategy to extend the 20-year patent protection of medicines. Simply changing the route of administration, playing around with the molecule a bit or finding a new indication and the protection is extended. This way, companies can continue to charge high prices.  Follow the conversation:  #patentskill .   Patents are expensive. Yet they are unfair.