Geneva,
June 25, 2013
MA/2013/61
The conventional model for researching and developing new medical and pharmaceutical products is under scrutiny, with new incentives and collaborative innovation models needed to meet evolving market requirements in developed and developing countries amid pressing public-health needs around the world. Where do we go from here?
World Trade Organization (WTO) Director General Pascal Lamy, World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Margaret Chan and WIPO Director General Francis Gurry will open a day-long discussion on “Medical Innovation – Changing Business Models” on 5 July, 2013 at WIPO in Geneva.
Discussion areas with question and answer sessions will include “The Evolution of Medical Innovation,” “Today’s Challenges, Tomorrow’s Solutions,” “New Models, New Directions in Innovation,” and “Charting New Directions for International Cooperation and Policy Development.”
High-level presenters will offer perspectives from the private sector, inter-governmental organizations, civil-society groups and others. Participants from WHO, WIPO and WTO, DNDi, the Medicines Patent Pool, UNITAID, the South African Medical Research Council, IFPMA, GAVI Alliance, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, have already confirmed. Draft agenda.
The symposium is the third in the series of joint technical symposia on public health, intellectual property and trade convened by the WHO, WIPO and the WTO. It builds on the collaborative work undertaken by the three agencies to enhance capacity, including in the form of the recent publication Promoting Access to Medical Technologies and Innovation.
The study and information about the previous symposia are available at http://www.who.int/entity/phi/implementation/trilateral_cooperation/en/, https://www.wipo.int/globalchallenges/en/health/trilateral_cooperation.html, and http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/who_wipo_wto_e.htm.
Journalists wishing to cover the conference are requested to contact the Media Relations Section or register online by July 3, 2013.