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Unitaid invites proposals that help countries use trade rules to increase access to drugs
Geneva, Switzerland – Unitaid launched a new call for proposals to help countries take advantage of provisions under global intellectual property rules that allow increased access to affordable medicines in order to safeguard public health.
An international agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) allows member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to include clauses in their patent legislation allowing generic versions of medical products to be used under certain circumstances.
Under the call, Unitaid is inviting proposals to support use of so-called “TRIPS flexibilities” in order to increase access on an equitable basis to affordable and appropriately formulated medicines.
The patent system, which is designed to promote innovation, has been successful in doing so in several of the disease areas that Unitaid works in.
Patent protection is considered vital by the pharmaceutical industry in order to cover the costs of developing new compounds.
However patents of dubious quality are sometimes used in ways that restrict competition and innovation while posing a barrier to entry onto the market of affordable generic drugs.
Unitaid is soliciting proposals that, among other things, relate to:
- Setting up a self-financing system to support regular filing of challenges to low-quality patents;
- Working with patent offices to help them to improve quality of patents that are registered;
- Providing rapid but limited support for use of TRIPS flexibilities in countries to increase access to health products from HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and HCV;
- Creating a support platform focusing on policy relating to intellectual property;
- Using one or more TRIPS flexibilities, preferably through a sustainable mechanism.
- Other proposals to support use of TRIPS flexibilities to increase access to medicines are also welcome.
Read the Call for Proposals
Creating access to affordable, high-quality medicines
Unitaid’s new strategy will focus on reducing inequities in health access
Unitaid has adopted a new five-year strategy that will enable it to support global efforts to end HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis over the next two decades and help reduce inequities in access to healthcare.
The strategy, approved at a two-day meeting of the Executive Board that ended on Wednesday, positions Unitaid to best serve the global response to the three diseases in a fast-changing health and development environment.
The Sustainable Development Goals signal a major shift in perspective, setting out over the next 15 years to reduce inequities among populations and to promote access to healthcare as a basic human right.
“I greatly welcomed the commitment and determination shown by the Board in approving an ambitious new strategy that will guide Unitaid for the next five years,” said Unitaid Chair Celso Amorim.
Unitaid’s strategic objectives for 2017-21 are to promote innovation, catalyse equitable access to better health products and to create the right conditions for scale-up, so that better health products reach all the people who need them.
Unitaid is also committed to reduce inequities in access to better health products and to make the best use of every dollar it invests while producing measurable results. It also coordinates its work with countries and partners to ensure Unitaid projects best serve the global response.
Unitaid will maintain its commitments to HIV/AIDS – including co-infections such as hepatitis C – tuberculosis and malaria and also support increased access to health products and effectiveness of care. It will fund more projects supporting integration in reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health.
A number of Strategic Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were approved by the Board to monitor Unitaid’s performance against the new strategy.
The Board also agreed that Unitaid should focus on expanding access to HIV self-testing in low and middle income countries, where 14 million people living with the virus are unaware of their status and need to be identified for ambitious global health targets to be reached.
Despite a dramatic increase in access to HIV testing services over the last two decades, several key population groups, among them adolescents, men and partners of people with HIV, elude existing approaches to testing.
“Unitaid has received a strong endorsement from the Executive Board to pursue a bold approach to investments in innovation,“ said Unitaid’s Executive Director, Lelio Marmora. “Reaching ambitious global health targets will require us to take calculated risks in order to make the best health products widely available to those most in need.”
Unitaid will be inviting applications for funding – known as a call for proposals – in the coming weeks in the specific area of ramping up self-testing.
The Board also approved the launch of targeted calls for proposals aimed at overcoming intellectual property barriers where they hinder access to and affordable medicines in developing countries.
Read more: Unitaid Strategy 2017-2021 [PDF, 670 KB]