Innovation patents to look after poor patients, too (Patent-2)

http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=OFFR_TM_EN&ACTION=D&DOC=1&CAT=OFFR&QUERY=013030c1eebc:6f7d:55a08776&RCN=6074

A European research team is working on a system that secures the needs of poorer patients while still encouraging innovation and investment in the pharmaceutical industry. As the international intellectual property rights (IPR) regime stands today, pharmaceutical companies protect their research and inventions via a 20-year global monopoly. Although this helps companies and their investors recoup investments and maintain a lead market position, it often means that potentially life-saving medicines do not reach those who need them most. Monopoly prices first look to recover investment costs and failure risks, which hinders development of mutually beneficial supplier/buyer relations. This is most notable in the case of AIDS where a public health emergency has continued to worsen rather than abate. 'Pharma-innovation – patent-2' (Innova–P2) is working to secure the needs of poor patients and still protect innovation and investment in the pharmaceutical industry. A truly interdisciplinary consortium, the project is exploring alternatives to the current system by bringing together international experts from academic, policy-making, pharma and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) communities across a broad range of disciplines. The project has four major objectives which include advancing knowledge and ethical insight into reform plans for the IPR system, finalising plans to amend the IPR system in the area of pharma innovation, securing support for the new system from China and India – the two most powerful emerging-country actors – and promoting urgent policy developments on IPR through consensus and a policy action plan. Efforts to amend the current IPR system are in line with a major 21st century challenge (delivering reasonably priced health care to patients worldwide) that lies at the heart of biomedical ethics, which strive for sustainable world development. Innova–P2 is aiming at a potential two-tiered patent system that would give innovators a choice. By opting for a new Patent-2, inventors would not have veto powers over the reproduction of their inventions. This means that medicines would quickly become available at competitive market prices. The reward for Patent-2 holders would come from public funds, relative to the impact of their invention on the global burden of disease.