Toward a new era of intellectual property: capacity building from the

bottom upE. Richard Gold

President, The Innovation PartnershipAssociate Professor, Faculty of Law, McGill University

Building and Maintaining Sustainable Global Health PartnershipsMay 8th, 2009

Outline

• The problem• A new methodology• Our results• Conclusion

The problem

• The world’s medicine cabinet is emptying as the pipeline of new biomedicines is drying up

• The costs of research and development have increased as the easy to find medicines have been found and regulatory standards rise

• Developing country concerns over access to medicines and to other technologies have pushed international organisations such as the WTO, WIPO and WHO to adopt development-friendly positions on IP

The problem

• Controversies over patents in health care and agriculture have soured the public’s attitudes toward patents– Launch of a lawsuit against South Africa over access

to HIV/AIDS medications by 39 pharmaceutical companies in 1998

– Crisis resulting from Myriad Genetics’s patents over two breast and ovarian cancer gene

– Fears over GMOs and patent lawsuit against farmers

The problem

• Developing countries express concern over the imposition of high-income country patent standards on them– Yet developing countries often surpass the

requirements that international treaties impose on them

• International treaties provide countries, not communities, with control over natural resource access– These countries often do not protect the

communities that live there

The problem

• Researchers too often conduct their research and fail to involve communities or come back to explain their research findings

• Many developing country research institutions think that they can attract major financing by commercialising their inventions

• Indigenous groups are led to believe that their knowledge can also be translated into income

A new methodology

• We developed a set of multiple, overlapping research methods– Development of a model the encompasses all disciplines and

perspectives– Collection of both quantitative and qualitative data across

18 countries over one decade in biotechnology– Preparation of case studies from both developed and

developing countries looking at different aspects of the innovation process

– 7 international workshops of experts on three continents– Supplemented by legal, econometric, economic and

business analyses

Our results

• We identified 6 themes from our research– Trust– Better communications– Creating new models of collaboration– Building and maintaining scientific infrastructures– Developing new analytical tools– Data and metrics

Trust

• Our case studies revealed that a lack of trust undermined the effective use of IP– Indigenous peoples often mistrust governments

that are charged with protecting their interests environment

– It prevented Brazilian traditional communities from being able to work with researchers

– It prevented an effective response in Canada to ensure access to medicines

Capacity Building

• Recommendation: Governments should support independent, non-governmental and non-industry organisations to engage indigenous communities at a grass-roots level in training related to a host of issues around access and benefit sharing agreements, contracting and intellectual property

• To implement: We worked with Mam people in Huehuetenango, Guatemala to create a capacity building program on intellectual property in relation to their genetic resources and traditional knowledge

Approach to Capacity Building

• We work in partnership with communities, on their terms, and on those subjects that they choose

• We educate our partnering communities about the relative advantages and disadvantages of pursuing different strategies

• We aim to build decision-making capacity in a way that is tailored to meet our partners’ particular needs and sensitive to varying economic and cultural realities

• We train broad community as well as leaders to leave expertise behind

Scientific infrastructure

• There is a growing body of research occurring within developing countries

• This research usually is not taken further because of lack of skill, lack of funding and lack of laboratories

• Africa and other regions face a brain drain• A critical problem is lack of high-speed Internet access• Developed and developing country universities can build

programmes to train scientists at home• A key missing ingredient is knowledge about how to use the

intellectual property system to further dissemination and development

IP Management Training

• Recommendation: Governments, industry and public institutions should sponsor capacity building programs on technology transfer and IP management for low- and middle-income countries and for aboriginal communities in high-income countries

• Implementation: In June-August 2007, we, together with partners in Kenya, developed a training program for 25 senior scientists on intellectual property management

IP Management Training

• Training engaged local experts and adapted to research and conditions in Eastern Africa

• Training included– Basic understanding of intellectual property systems

(patents, copyright, plant variety protection, genetic resources)

– Basic licensing and transactions in university/research institution technology

– Basic concepts in establishing an IP strategy

• Students returned to their home institutions to conduct an IP audit

IP Management Training

• As a result of this training, most of the participants became involved with developing their IP policy or establishing a technology transfer office

• Through the interaction of the participants and the local trainers, we left behind a network of experts who can mutually support one another

• We have been asked to conduct more advanced training

Conclusion

• There is a significant knowledge deficit with respect to intellectual property and its implementation in low- and middle-income countries

• Capacity building must engage local actors and aim not only on increasing knowledge, but leaving a sustainable network in place

• Capacity building can only occur if local communities want it and set the agenda

• Learning goes both ways

Richard Goldrgold@theinnovationpartnership.orgrichard.gold2@mcgill.ca