What is the report of the Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and Public Health?
It is the first report of its kind, mandated by the World Health Organization (WHO), and produced by an independent Commission. It analyses the relationships between intellectual property rights, innovation and public health, mobilizing the available evidence and analysis and the perspectives of different stakeholders. It makes recommendations aimed to promote innovation (i.e. new diagnostics, vaccines and medicines) relevant to the needs of sick people in developing countries, and the accessibility of health-care products in developing countries. The report was formally handed to the Director-General of WHO on 3rd April, when it was published on the Commission’s web site and hard copies made available. The report will first be considered by an intergovernmental working group of WHO’s Executive Board on 28 April, and then by WHO’s 192 Member States at the Fifty-ninth World Health Assembly to be held on 22-27 May 2006.
