Public Health and Diplomacy. Wikileaks lays bare US priorities.

More on the wikileaks saga. Good piece by Knowledge Ecology International relayed through IP-Health ( Vol 16, Issue 18 ) on the latest cables to be made public, regarding data exclusivity, one amongst several chief  features of TRIPS + like rules with serious implications for Public Health. Meanwhile, Bradley  Manning remains in jail, in harsh conditions. We shall not forget.

240 Wikileaks cables on pharmaceutical data exclusivity

The following are the cables identified in an August 29, 2011 search of the wikileaks cables,  using the search terms data exclusivity and pharmaceutical. This search identified 240 cables. Some 40 countries are mentioned in the cables. More than half of the cables involve 5 countries: Turkey (76), Taiwan (21), El Salvador (11), Honduras (11) and Tunisia (10).

Corporate Self-Interest And Strategic Choices: Gilead Licenses To Medicines Patent Pool

Intellectual Property rights and Public Health constitute two increasingly overlapping areas, most specially since 1994 with the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) based upon a diverse set of international treaties regulating different aspects of trade and commerce, among them the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS), which for the first time aims to establish a global common ground on regulating (through such instruments as patents) production, trade and stockpiling of pharmaceutical products.  Its implications in terms of access are a matter for concern, and a legitimate human rights issue which we will be following closely. 

Unfair trade is one of the driving forces behind entrenched poverty and widening health disparities.Trade policies impact health through their effects on the social determinants of health as shown in this chart prepared by the Economic Governance for Health

In this occasion we would like to highlight a good piece by Northeastern University School of Law professor (affiliate to its Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy)  and Health Gap Policy Analyst (Global Access Project) Brook K. Baker in IP-Watch on recent developments in the IP and Public Health area, most specially the recent licensing agreement between Gilead and the Patent Pool for medicines.