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The need for a treaty to support research that enters the public domain Tim Hubbard, TACD, October 2002 An alternative economic model for funding drug R&D Tim Hubbard, TACD, October 2002 Ideas from experience as scientist • HGP - half way to a corporate structure – Large scale projects delivering high quality, complete “products” (rather than research publications) can be conducted in the public domain if the management is right • IP has fewer benefits to society in a scientific age – Disclosure required less: Many scientists, so most ideas occur to many, or are can be deduced from what idea can do – IP supports payback for upfront research: would not be required under a different economic model • Openness is less hassle; drives progress forwards; exposes errors – Even companies agree - SNPs consortium Does industry need IP to get the job done? • Other industries operate economics models which rely much less heavily on IP, e.g. microchips. • Issue is how to fund research • Médicins San Frontièrs (Doctors without Borders) – DNDi (drugs for neglected diseases initiative) – Fund R&D from public domain – Charge drugs at cost (no IP) Lots of complex legal solutions to problems of access to drugs are being suggested. • Modifications to TRIPS • Differential pricing with complex mechanisms to decide prices and ensure product does not move between pricing areas • Etc. etc. • If this was software, the conclusion would be that it is time to rewrite the code! Funding structures R&D Drugs Public drug payments Cost Access to Drugs + Marketing + R&D Cost + Profit Free People treated Funding structures R&D Drugs Global R&D Fund Public drug payments Generics Global Research & Development Fund • Each country collects % of that spent on drugs – tax at point of sale; fraction of health care spending – would require international agreement – country would have some ability to target funding to health care issues relevant to its populations • Funding by research fund could be ‘infectious’ – aka GNU public license used for Open Source Software. – anything resulting from it would be in the public domain How to address dangers for R&D fund model (Lots of R&D paid for; no new drugs) • Funding tightly tied to success in creating drugs that go on to have measurable healthcare benefits • Continuous monitoring of progress by R&D funding agency, aka management of Human Genome Project (and how projects are managed inside pharma today) • Competition between multiple R&D funding agencies (to make sure they are efficient too) Example of change • European dairy farming, changed from: – Make as much milk as possible – Make a fixed quota of milk • Consequences – Market for milk quota – 50% of high protein feed manufactures went out of business – Industry survived New world order • Companies are global organisations • Quangos (unelected) are global organisations – WTO, WIPO • NGOs are global organisations – NGOs spring up to match a global organisation • Governments are national organisations – Political parties are national organisations • Global organisations can play national organisations off against each other NGO • Recognised “brand name” • Could mean “New, Global, Open” • World political party, might be a new mechanism to counteract attempts by “Global organisations” to play countries off against each other Public domain and IP issues • World Business Council for Sustainable Development Project on Intellectual Property Rights • Royal Society brainstorming on the future of IPR • EU discussions concerning open source software • OECD working group on Issues of Access to Publicly Funded Research Data • Aventis scenarios workshop on Sustainable Health Care • Medicin san Frontiers IP policy for DNDi • Rockefeller Foundation workshop on Collective Management of Intellectual Property Context • There is an ongoing “War” between forces of ownership and openness • The “battle” for openness of the human genome sequence was won but it nearly went the other way… • Increased data ownership limits freedom • Rich world ownership inhibits world equality The future of ideas • • • • Creativity and innovation always builds on the past The past always tries to control the creativity that builds on it Free societies enable the future by limiting the past Ours is less and less a free society – Copyright – Patents – Digital control Lawrence Lessig, OSCON 2002 http://randomfoo.net/oscon/2002/lessig/ http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/000438 Options to moderate monopoly effects of gene patents • Make compulsory licensing easier and less costly – A government or a judge issues a non-voluntary license to use a patent. – Compulsory licensing can introduce competition and lower prices. – Compulsory licensing can prevent a patent holder from blocking R&D and/or the development of new products. • Do not allow gene based patents – Already much more difficult – Patent law currently being reviewed at WIPO, WTO