Project Boosts Strategic Use of Intellectual Property by Health Research Institutes in Developing Countries

A three year project funded by the Geneva International Academic Network (GIAN) and coordinated by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has developed a model to enhance the capacity of health research institutes in developing countries to leverage the value of their research results through strategic management of their intellectual property (IP) assets. It has already led to the filing of patents for cancer-related treatments in participating countries.

 

A pilot project was launched in September 2004, in seven countries, on two continents - Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of Congo and Colombia - to help address the many IP-related infrastructural and resource challenges faced by health research institutes in developing countries. This has resulted in the creation of two networks of health research institutions whose IP-related support needs are each provided by an “IP Hub”, which offers shared IP services as a strategy to develop local expertise to protect, own and commercialize research results through the use of patents and other types of IP. 

 

Mr. Sherif Saadallah, Executive Director, Office of Strategic Use of IP for Development, said “This groundbreaking project offers health research institutions in developing countries a model to support the leverage of their research results and move towards acquiring economic and social returns from research and development (R&D) investment. This will, in turn, boost in the medium and long term the development of much needed therapies in the battle against cancer, malaria and other tropical diseases, and help stem the loss of valuable human resources from developing countries.” He added, “The WIPO-GIAN model has proven to be an effective strategy to provide health research institutes in developing countries with the IP expertise they require to effectively and strategically protect and manage their research results, allowing them to become owners of the fruit of their intellectual undertakings and to strengthen their research capacities.”

 

Mr. Saadallah said, “The role of our Swiss partners has been pivotal in bringing together the four interdisciplinary teams of 31 experts that have enabled us to find creative solutions and to successfully build, test and evaluate a realistic model that offers a concrete and practical response to the needs of developing countries, in the critically important area of health research”. 

 

Mr. Randall Harbour, Executive Secretary of the GIAN, said, “It is to be expected that in the middle and long-term the implementation of the WIPO-GIAN model by developing countries will facilitate local development, production and distribution of medicines based on both conventional approaches and traditional medicine. In addition to supporting researchers from developing countries with patent applications, the "IP Hubs" can assist them in establishing well thought-out and fair legal frameworks with research institutions in industrialized countries.”

                

The WIPO-GIAN pilot involved the participation of 22 research institutions from 6 countries of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) and 12 research institutes from Colombia. Over 130 scientists, lawyers and research institution managers have been trained in key practical skills to enable them to protect, manage and exploit their research results. One example is the drafting of patent applications and licensing agreements for technology transfer. Also, more than 1,600 scientists and research institution and university managers have attended workshops on IP and patent issues for research institutions organized by the "IP Hub" in Colombia (Servicio Compartido de Propiedad Intelectual, SECOPI) and the "IP Hub" in the CEMAC region (Service commun virtuel en propriété intellectuelle, SECOVIPI) in cooperation with the local partner institutions; and the development and review of institutional IP policies and procedures to help R&D institutions protect and exploit their research results is ongoing.

 

All participating research institutions agreed to common policies and to share IP services to minimizing costs and optimizing resources through economies of scale. The WIPO-GIAN “R&D Network and IP Hub” model can be used by developing countries as a strategy to support their research centers and universities in using the IP system to protect, own, manage and commercialize research results.

 

Under the project, two "IP Hubs" were established in Colombia, SECOPI, and in the CEMAC region, SECOVIPI, using local researchers, lawyers and managers selected among the 130 persons that had been trained by WIPO. WIPO provided training under the project in three key areas, namely: patent drafting, licensing and technology transfer, IP and health research management and marketing. These two "IP Hubs" began supporting their respective R&D networks in January 2007.  Researchers are now in a better position to make choices with regard to the protection and commercial exploitation of their research results as the "IP Hubs" offer advice and support in the use of the IP system and contribute to IP awareness among the local authorities and other research institutes. 

 

To date, with the support of SECOPI in Colombia, one patent has been filed nationally and through the PCT on a kit for the diagnosis of cancer of the cervix and 5 additional applications are being drafted. With the support of SECOVIPI, the participating research institute in Gabon filed a patent application for plant extracts to produce drugs against cancer and 4 additional applications from the CEMAC region are anticipated in the near future.   

 

The “IP Hubs” are designed to serve a vital function in supporting and strengthening research in developing countries by providing common services that include: drafting patent applications; legal protection of research results; managing and licensing IP owned by the research institutions; encouraging public-private partnerships; marketing the R&D network and its IP assets; and looking for and negotiating funding.

 

The project “Research Networks and Intellectual Property: A Model for Supporting Developing Country Researchers in Creating, Owning and Exploiting Health Research Results” was funded by GIAN and brought together a total of 11 partner institutions in Central Africa (Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle (OAPI) and the Commission of the CEMAC), in Colombia (Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio (SIC) and Colciencias) and Switzerland. The following Swiss partners have been involved in the project: The Geneva International Academic Network (RUIG-GIAN); Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC), University of Geneva; Graduate Institute of International Studies (HEI), Geneva; Swiss Tropical Institute, Basel; International Institute for Management Development (IMD), Lausanne; and the Council on Health Research for Development (COHRED). Additional information is available from http://www.ruig-gian.org/.

 

The results of the project will shortly be published by WIPO as an Evaluation Study and will be available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

 

Journalists seeking further information may consult http://www.ruig-gian.org