Subcribe
20 March, 2008
Prize or Patent? Innovative Ideas for Funding Medical Drug Development and Access
Conference Room 7 United Nations Headquarters, New York
20 March 2008, 3:00 - 5:30 pm
Watch the interview with Jean-Marc Coicaud, Director of UNU-ONY, Jamie Love, Director, Knowledge Ecology International, and A.E.O Ogwell, Head of International Relations at the Kenyan Ministry of Health.
Related Documents
"The Big Idea: Prizes to Stimulate R&D for new Medicines" by James Love and Tim Hubbard.
The Medical Prize Innovation Act, introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont, to implement prizes for medical drug development.
The summary of the January 28-29th conference "Can world prize competitions foster more equitable drug research and development?" held by UNU-MERIT in Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Biographies of the speakers.
15:00 - 15:15
INTRODUCTION
Welcome
Jean-Marc Coicaud, United Nations University - Office at the United Nations (UNU-ONY)
Background and Objectives of the Panel
Rishab Aiyer Gosh, Senior Researcher and Head, Collaborative Creativity Group, UNU-MERIT, The Netherlands
15:15 - 16:15
SESSION 1 SCENE SETTING
Overview: Prizes as an alternative mechanism to stimulate private investments in R&D
Jamie Love, Director, Knowledge Ecology International
Can we use new incentive mechanisms for stimulating medical research and development that do not rely upon monopolies? What are the benefits of doing so? Love will argue that well designed systems of prizes can better focus the financial rewards for drug development, and ensure that investments target products that truly improve health care outcomes. By separating the markets for innovation from the market for the products themselves, policy makers can promote innovation and access at the same time. Generic competition can drive prices down, improving access, while prizes can reward investors in innovation. Prizes are being considered to address a number of medical innovation problems, including the need for more medically important drugs for developed economies, investments in "neglected" and "most neglected" diseases in developing countries, and to address special problems, such as the development of new antibiotics and vaccines, or a low-cost rapid point-of-delivery diagnostic test for tuberculosis.
Status of the Proposed $ 80 billion US Medical Innovation Prize Fund (Sanders Bill 2007
Bernie Sanders, US Senator for Vermont (Invited)
In October 2007, Senator Bernie Sanders tabled the proposed $80 billion ''Medical Innovation Prize Act of 2007'' in the US Senate. The Bill aims to establish alternative incentives for the research and development that does not inhibit access to new medicines. The Sanders Bill, which is currently being reviewed by the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, would eliminate marketing exclusivity for all medicines in the U.S. market. Senator Sanders will explain the rationale for this new approach, and why it will provide a sustainable basis for promoting innovation in new medicines, consistent with improved rates of innovation, while eliminating the need for high prices, and improving access for consumers.
16:15 - 17:15
SESSION II REALITY CHECK
Valuing prizes
Kalipso Chalkidou, Associate Director, Research and Development, National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, UK
How can public health get maximum benefit from investing taxpayers' money in medical technologies to improve the health of their populations? Health systems such as the National Health Service in the UK grapple with these questions everyday and the way they make healthcare resource allocation decisions may be instructive for the design and management of medical prize funds. This presentation draws on the experience of the National Institute for Health Clinical Excellence (NICE), which provides independent evidence-based advice to the UK's National Health Service on which medical technologies are good value for money and for which groups of patients. NICE helps decision-makers, including payers, providers, professionals and patients, make informed decisions about the effectiveness and value of new and existing technologies. Its decisions are made in an inclusive, transparent and scientifically rigorous manner.
International Perspectives on Access to Medicines
1. AE Ogwell, Head of International Relations at the Kenyan ministry of health
For the least developed countries that are struggling to provide access to basic health services to their citizens under severe resource constraints, medical prizes are an attractive proposition as they allow research and development to focus on areas of true public health value. Dr. Ogwell will argue that prizes could help expand the technology transfer and access to medicine options currently available to poor countries under the intellectual property regime (including compulsory licensing and parallel importation). The presentation will explore ill focus on how prizes can help build capacity and ensure sustainable financing for the health priorities of least developed countries.
2. Dilip Shah, Secretary General, Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance
Presenting the perspective of pharmaceutical companies, Dilip Shah will take a critical look at the proposed alternative incentive mechanisms to boost the supply of medicines, including some possible disincentives of a Prize system. Focusing on the entire drug development cycle - from discovery, preclinical development, clinical development and post-marketing surveillance - the presentation will consider how to reduce the high costs of innovation, especially for developing countries.
17:15-17:30
CONCLUDING REMARKS AND FINAL DISCUSSIONS
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Reception
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Page last modified Last modified: February 09 2010 at 12:08:24 PM.
