nuals international seminar
DESCRIPTION
NUALS International SeminarTRANSCRIPT
ACCESS TO MEDICINES AND NOVEL MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIES:
HEALTH, HUMAN RIGHTS AND IPR PERSPECTIVES
TWO-DAY INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
ON 17th and 18th AUGUST 2015
Health for all is an idealistic goal for every country. According to the World
Health Organization, “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social
well-being and not merely the absence of disease.” In recent years, this
statement has been amplified to include the ability to lead a ‘socially and
economically productive life’. The incorporation of health concerns into the
‘rights’ discourse- both at the international and domestic level – recognizes that
legal systems bear the responsibility of aiding the medical profession in
advancing the ‘right to health’. Right to health, today, would be meaningless
and incomplete without encompassing within its ambit simultaneous avenues
and opportunities for access to drugs and other mechanisms of medical
treatment.
It is evident that the number of people affected by life threatening diseases like
HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, cancer etc. are constantly increasing and the
cost of medicines which can treat these diseases are far beyond the limited
capacity of the vast population of developing and least developed countries.
Patent protection for new, innovative medicines provides incentives for future
research and development in pharmaceutical sector by providing exclusive
rights to the patent holder for a limited period of time. However strict patent
law results in price rise for essential medicines and delays affordable generic
drugs from entering the market. Moreover, patent protection results in
monopoly pricing and thereby conflict with the key essentials of public health –
the right of accessibility, availability and affordability. Though the topic has
been the focus of endless discussions, which has escalated after the advent of
TRIPS, its importance has never diminished and hence this revisitation of the
contemporary germane theme of Access to Medicines and Novel Medical
Technologies by the National University of Advanced Legal Studies.
Dr. Calvin Ho - is a Faculty member at the Centre forBiomedical Ethics in the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine,National University of Singapore. Co-Head of the CollaboratingCentre for Bioethics of the World Health Organization andAssistant Director with the Legal Aid Bureau, Ministry of Law,as well as a member in various governmental committees, healso associates with the Ethox Centre, University of Oxford. Hehas published extensively in various areas of health systemsand health financing, property and intellectual property rights,informational confidentiality, privacy and conflict of laws.
Dr. Unni Karunakara - is the former International President(2010-2013) of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Hespearheaded the MSF Access to Essential Medicines campaignand has extensive experience in the delivery of health care toneglected populations affected by conflict, disasters andepidemics in Africa, Asia and America. He was also medicalcoordinator for programmes in Azerbaijan, Brazil and theDemocratic Republic of Congo. Currently, he is a Senior Fellowat the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs at Yale Universityand a Trustee of MSF India.
Dr. Vesselin Popovski - is a member of the Academic Councilof United Nations System (ACUNS) and served as SeniorAcademic Programme Officer, United Nations University,Tokyo. A recipient of British Council Scholarship (King’sCollege, London), Sir Morris Finer Award (London School ofEconomics), Princeton University Fellowship, Project onUniversal Jurisdiction and other distinctions, he is an expert inPublic International Law and Human Rights. He is presentlyProfessor, Vice Dean and Executive Director, Centre for theStudy of United Nations, O.P. Jindal Global University.
Dr. Thomas Scharff – is a licensed legal professional with abackground in the medical field. He has served as a professorof law at the University of Darmstadt as well as held positionas judicial officer in Munich. His professional legal experienceincludes various capacities such as an independent lawyer,government lawyer, judge, as well as legal advisor to Merck.He is also qualified in alternative medicine from TechnicalUniversity, Munich.
Key Speakers
Leena Menghaney – is the South Asia Head of the MSFAccess to Medicines Campaign. Her area of work andexpertise include Public Health, Innovation and IntellectualProperty. She has a distinguished service of working withgovernment, civil society and other stakeholders toimplement public health safeguards in the Indian patent law.
Dr. Bismi Gopalakrishnan – is the Director, Dr. B. R.Ambedkar Chair (Centre for Human Rights and SocialJustice), Department of Law, University of Kerala andAssistant Director, Centre for Global Academics, Universityof Kerala. Her specializations include Health Care Law,Human Rights and Intellectual Property Rights. She has toher credit extensive research work and publications in thearea of access to health care and intellectual property rights.
Dr. Habib Hasan – is part of the faculty at the Public HealthFoundation of India. He has undergone training in Pedagogyat Boston University, Transparency and AccountabilityProgramme at World Bank, USA and is an AusAID-ALAFellow at Sydney Medical School. A physician and anepidemiologist by training, his research areas includeEpidemiology, Health Financing and PharmaceuticalEconomics. .
Aashna Mehta – is a Research Associate with the PublicHealth Foundation of India (PHFI). Her research work hasfocused on critical areas such as health care financing,pharmaceutical policies, medicine pricing, procurement anddistribution. Her training is in Development and HealthEconomics.
Key Speakers
Schedule
