IGWG assumptions "contradict" WHO statements, report argues

A commentary by a group of think-tanks, including the UK-based International Policy Network, claims that there are flaws in the assumptions of the Intergovernmental Working Group on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property (IGWG), which released its draft strategy and plan of action in July last year (Marketletters passim). The document, which was circulated to the Marketletter in advance of its official launch at the end of March, notes that the IGWG bases its recipe for government interventions on the belief that there is a shortage of R&D for diseases that affect poorer countries and that the combination of patents and branded drug prices are barriers to access for patients in the developing world.