The United Nations High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines has called for delinking drug prices from research and development (R&D) costs.
The report submitted by panel calls for human rights to be placed over intellectual property laws of pharmaceutical companies and incoherence between them should be narrowed.
Key Recommendations
- All countries must freely be able to use flexibilities granted under TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) to access affordable medicines.
- Countries that retaliate and threaten against generic drugs makers in different countries under the TRIPS Agreement must be forced to face significant sanctions.
- Public health assessments must be done with every free trade negotiation to assess the possible impact on public health and creation of public health patentability criteria.
- Governments engaged in bilateral and regional trade and investment treaties should ensure that these agreements do not include provisions that interfere with their obligations to fulfil the right to health.
- Research institutions and universities that receive public funding must prioritize public health objectives over financial returns in their patenting and licensing practices.
- Governments should increase their current levels of investments to in heath technology innovation to address unmet needs.