Minutes - TRIPS Council - View details of the intervention/statement

Ambassador Alfredo Suescum (Panama)
United States of America
12 THE UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL'S HIGH LEVEL PANEL REPORT ON ACCESS TO MEDICINES
215. Let me begin by reiterating that the United States is absolutely committed to working on and identifying practical ways to increase access to safe, effective, and affordable medicines around the world, and to support policies that drive development of new medicines. As we have made clear in our past statements and interventions on the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines, "the narrowly focused mandate of the Panel was flawed" and led to outcomes that fail to "adequately address this complex issue. The result includes conclusions that further this narrow perspective, raising fundamental questions regarding the legitimacy of those conclusions." 216. When this topic was discussed at the November 2016 TRIPS Council, there was lack of consensus and widely divergent views over the Report amongst WTO Members. Outside of the TRIPS Council, there has been no dearth of events held, articles written, and a wide variety of views and positions expressed. Similarly, parties have not found common ground on any of these issues. We further note that the Panel itself was unable to come to consensus on its key recommendations, with two of the panellists — the two who had the most extensive experience in managing R&D portfolios — warning that the Report’s recommendations could result in serious negative unintended consequences for research and development. 217. These concerns have also been expressed by a large group of stakeholders, including from the research-based biopharmaceutical industry, patients, research universities, and inventors. 218. We have, of course, listened to the interventions today, and do note that the Panel's work has been concluded. However, we have heard a wide range of proposals today. Before we end this discussion we would like to seek clarity as to what is being proposed. There has been at least three different pieces of proposals that have been voiced, and I think that we would definitely like to discuss that before we end this agenda item.
The Council took note of the statements made.
63. The Chairman recalled that Brazil, China, India and South Africa had requested that this item be added to the agenda of the Council's meeting in November 2016. To introduce the item, they had also submitted a communication (document IP/C/W/619).

64. In the course of that discussion, the delegation of South Africa had requested that this item be continued as an ad hoc item at the next meeting and the Council so agreed.

65. Since this was a continuation of the discussion had held at the Council's meeting in November 2016, he briefly summarized what had been said at that meeting. According to the co sponsors, the request to add this item to the Council's agenda had been intended to facilitate an exchange of views on the recommendations of the High Level Panel, as well as to share national experiences regarding the use of TRIPS flexibilities. At the meeting in November 2016, some delegations had welcomed the discussion of the report in this Council while others had said that they needed more time to consider the recommendations. Some delegations had expressed concern about the narrow scope of the report and had noted that it had neither been mandated nor endorsed by Members of the United Nations.

66. The representatives of India; Bangladesh on behalf of the LDC Group; Brazil; South Africa; China; Indonesia; Nigeria on behalf of the African Group; Egypt; the United States; Japan; Canada; the Republic of Korea; Norway; the European Union; Switzerland; Australia; Chinese Taipei; and Chile took the floor.

67. The representative of the World Health Organization took the floor.

68. The Council took note of the statements made.

IP/C/M/85, IP/C/M/85/Add.1