COMMENTS

Interestingly, GlaxoSmithKline? , a major pharmaceutical company, has recently promised to implement "a more flexible approach to IP in the Least Developed Countries. IP’s primary objective is to incentivise and reward research. However, there are plenty of neglected tropical disease where there is a severe lack of research. We need to see if we can use IP to help address that gap. One idea we are proposing is a Least Developed Country (LDC) Patent Pool for medicines for neglected tropical diseases. We would put our relevant small molecule compounds or process patents for neglected tropical diseases into the pool, allowing others access to develop and produce new products. The pool would be voluntary so as to encourage others to participate and any benefits from the pool must go in full and solely to LDCs." There is now a publicly viewable, functioning online database containing thousands of compounds potentially useful in curing malaria. But licenses for use of the pooled IP will be limited geographically, and drug therapies promising high profits, such as cancer treatments discovered while researching malaria, will not be available for licensing. Nevertheless, while the scope is limited, I'm excited to see the idea gaining some traction.

-- SamWells - 26 May 2010

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