Access to Knowledge in Brazil: New Research on Intellectual Property, Innovation and Development

New Brazilian regulation encourages life sciences innovation

---

In this context, since the Lula government , there are analyses that give a highlight role to Brazilian diplomacy, in the sense of changing the geography of power on the global scale, especially in relation to the North-South relations, in contrast to the Cardoso government , which committed itself in terms of program to dismantling of the developmentist State, and the path towards liberalization and integration of the interests of capital and international trade 7.

The Rousseff government aimed for continuity from the previous government, maintaining the multilateral initiative of participation in summit meetings and groups for specific purposes, but abandoning the entrepreneurial approach to high and active foreign policy of Lula and his foreign Minister Celso Amorim. Showing the focus on domestic policy as compared to external policy, there is less emphasis on the figure of the President. Rousseff made less foreign trips, visited less foreign countries, and the number of foreign diplomatic posts and vacancies in the Diplomatic Service was reduced.

She is more technical, more pragmatic, and this can be seen as due to various areas of past experience — social, educational, and in terms of experience, ambition and views of the world that were different from her predecessor 7. It also involves a growing perception on the part of various social actors, including non-state actors, that the social issues — involving public health, education, hunger, human rights — require concerted global actions, with a view to overcoming the tensions between social needs and economic interest 8.

One sees, thus, the deepening of a dynamic that already was taking place since the s, but is more visible as from the Lula government: This reality is confirmed by the fact that the organs of the Federal Executive Power, from the Presidency of the Republic to the Ministries, today have competencies to operate in the international area, above all in international cooperation.

The actors in this Brazilian thrust for cooperation in health are various, each one of them putting in their values and their institutional culture, and also their demands.

On the side of foreign relations, a highlight, clearly, is the Brazilian Cooperation Agency ABC , which is responsible for negotiation, coordination and follow-up of the group of technical cooperation projects In relation to health, although Brazil has in the past developed projects of cooperation for some decades, especially with countries of the South and on specific subjects, since some time in the s health has been recognized as a predominant theme in the national agenda for South-South cooperation, revealing an unprecedented approximation between the Foreign Relations Ministry and the Health Ministry One sees, on this point, that the Health Ministry has been asked to cooperate internationally both on the North-South axis, and also on the South-South axis, and that the greater part of this cooperation is horizontal, being provided mostly in terms of technical cooperation, and on a lesser scale in scientific and technological cooperation; and it can be said that the Ministry usually receives more than it provides It is concluded that Brazil, through the partnership between the Health Ministry and the Foreign Relations Ministry, has also been assuming leadership, in coordination with other countries of the North and of the South, in efforts to build more consistent relationships between health and foreign policy.

In this connection, it has been acting with a firm sense of purpose in the specific international forums of the area, such as the World Health Organization and the World Health Assembly 1. The Health Ministry states Goal 14 of its Strategic Planning for the 5-year period as follows: To promote, internationally, Brazilian interests in the field of health, and also to share the experience and knowledge of the SUS with other countries, in accordance with the directives of Brazilian Foreign Policy.

About Access to Knowledge in India

Thus, Brazil presents a foreign policy in the field of health which, according to Ventura 10 , operates with a motivation of solidarity when it defends, for example, the submission of international trade to human rights, in the matter of intellectual property; that the social determinacy of health should have priority in the global agenda; and that a reform of the WHO should make it more independent in relation to the large-scale private sources of finance. On this point, there is a range of proposals that relate to health and which are discussed in the most varied international platforms.

One of these proposals that has most generated polemic, and currently promotes further debate, is on the relationship between health, innovation and trade. This is because it involves the question of access to drugs, which are the most important products in the interaction between trade and health. On this aspect we see that the conflict between the right of access to essential drugs and the right of intellectual property as part of a complex reality, in which various developing and less-developed countries see themselves in a situation of technological deficit, subject to the market conjurings created by the pharmaceutical multinationals.

The countries at the periphery are also impacted by the absence of therapeutic alternatives for the so-called neglected diseases, which occur more frequently in the poorer regions of the planet, and for which in the 21 st century there are still no alternatives for cure, due to the lack of investment in research and development by the pharmaceutical industry.

This abstruse context — one which places global public health in a situation of penury — brings numerous countries up against the position of extreme vulnerability. The audacious positioning of Brazil, in the context of international negotiations that involve the triangle public health-innovation-intellectual property, have been of fundamental importance in aggregating the interests of the developing countries and those that are relatively less developed. Thus, the next item explores, below, the fragile relationship between public health, innovation and intellectual property, and also the action of the Brazilian government in specific multilateral forums, seeking alternatives to enable the present international system of intellectual property to meet the specific interests of developing countries on the question of the rights to health, and access to medication.

In relation to intellectual property rights, Brazil, and also a range of developing and less-developed countries, denied patentability to pharmaceutical products, aiming to remove themselves from the cycle of economic and technology dependence on the international pharmaceutical manufacturers, so that drugs produced in these countries can be used free from the situation of technical protection that exists in the industrialized countries — reducing cost of production, and thus enabling wider access to the medications that are available The discussion on inequalities in global health, relating to the issue of access to drugs, and also the scarcity of financing for research and development for the illnesses that most affected the developing and less-developed countries, gained a highlight position in the context of the foreign policy of companies at the beginning of the s decade, with the signing of the Millennium Declaration.

In its own words that document provides the preparation of a group of goals that must be pursued to maintain the high principles of human dignity, equality and equity. On the subject of health, the Millennium Development Goals, that were attached to the declaration, proposed that: These objectives, extremely ambitious, could only be met if there were an effort by the whole of the international community toward promoting greater accessibility for drugs, vaccines and diagnostic kits, which would have to be efficacious, sufficient and of good quality.

This highlighted the need to create new partnerships and find new mechanisms of sustainable financing. In the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health was signed under the aegis of the WHO, a multilateral attempt to strengthen the right of the developing countries to use the flexibilities that are present in the TRIPS, mitigating the adverse effects of intellectual property policies, so that they might respond better to the real needs of public health and development. Faced with the need to conduct these debates by health authorities, in the WHO established the Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and Health CIPIH , which sought to find evidences of the possibility of reaching an equilibrium between rights of intellectual property and innovation and the interests of public health.

With its 60 recommendations, it revealed the problems of access caused by the current international system of intellectual property and by the lack of innovation, especially for illnesses that disproportionately affect the developing and less-developed countries The studies of the CIPIH did not in practice find any evidence that the implementation of the TRIPS agreement in the developing countries had significantly boosted research and development of pharmaceutical products.

It found that the principal reason for this is the insufficiency of market incentives In Brazil and Argentina, supported by another thirteen developing countries, presented a proposal to the World Intellectual Property Organization WIPO , to establish a development agenda This organization, created in , is one of the 16 specialized agencies of the UN; its purpose is to promote protection of intellectual property around the world through cooperation between States.

However, one sees that the activity of the Brazilian government, in that forum, also is in the direction of the ideal that the international intellectual property system should be better adapted to the interests and needs of the developing countries. In the next year, , the activity of the Brazilian government was once again outstanding for its progressive positioning in relation to access to drugs, this time in the context of the World Trade Organization, so that this access would not be the subject of blockages created by restrictive international trade policies.

This activism was able to be seen when a cargo of kg of the active ingredient Losartan Potassium , used in the production of drugs for high blood pressure, was held up for 36 days in the Port of Rotterdam, Holland, under the allegation of being falsified.

Access to Knowledge in Egypt

The ingredient was imported by the Brazilian pharmaceutical company EMS from a manufacturer in India. In Brazil and in India, the product is not protected by a patent, and may be sold freely. The German manufacturer Merck, which owns the intellectual property, asked for the substance to be held up in Holland. The incident generated diplomatic conflicts between the two countries.

Brazil accused the European Union of restricting the flexibilities granted to the developing nations to buy or import generic substances or drugs. The European managers beat back against the accusations alleging the right to inspect medications coming through the Customs to combat illegal trade and falsified products. Although litigation in the Dispute Settlement System did not go forward, it was clear that international trade policies cannot function as a block on access to drugs in the developing countries It could be seen, in the meanwhile, that both the WTO and the WIPO are bodies that do not act directly on questions of health and human rights, and for this reason are often criticized for their lack of transparency and for the imposition of the private interest over the public Thus, it is important for us to note how the conflicted relationship between public health, innovation and intellectual property is being debated in the multilateral forum that is competent for dealing with issues related to health.

Thus, in , after almost two years of intense debate and negotiations between the various actors involved, through Resolution WHA The main objective of this strategy is: In this context Brazil was an outstanding protagonist in the process of negotiation, with its proposal in a multilateral forum of initiatives that were already practiced internally, such as participation of the health sector in the process of concession of patents in pharmaceuticals Prior Consent by Anvisa.

Lessons from Pioneers Around the World. Charles Leadbeater Photographs by Romain Staropoli. Arguing about the World: The Work and Legacy of Meghnad Desai.

I. Introduction: Emerging Role of the BRIC Countries

Mary Kaldor and Polly Vizard eds. Access to Knowledge in Brazil: Retrieved September 18, , from http: Accessed September 18, Email x Access to Knowledge in Brazil Abstract Brazil is one of the world's most productive crucibles for new ideas and practices in innovation and collaboration. Jonathan Zittrain - Professor, Harvard Law School As policy makers around the world grapple with how to configure their intellectual property policies to promote innovation and economic growth, as well as public access to the fruits of intellectual labour, they would do themselves a huge favour by reading Lea Shaver's excellent book.

Pam Samuelson, Professor Univeristy of California, Berkeley This is essential reading for anyone who cares about one of the most important human rights issues of the century: Madhavi Sunder, Professor of Law, University of California Davis This volume features four chapters addressing the current issues facing intellectual property, innovation and development policy in Brazil.

Buy This Book View additional resources.

Access to Knowledge in Egypt: New Research in Intellectual Property, Innovation and Development

Front matter Acknowledgement pp. Advance Acclaim for Access to Knowledge in Brazil pp. Foreword Jack Balkin pp.

• Shame Lifter: Replacing Your Fears and Tears with Forgiveness, Truth, and Hope
• Federal Income Taxation, 11th (Concepts & Insights)
• Soirée Russe (National Melodies)
• How to Become a Famous Writer Before Youre Dead: Your Words in Print and Your Name in Lights
• Cameron Nation: Going All-In to Save His Country
• Pirates Gold