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18 J. World Intell. Prop. 1 (2015)

handle is hein.journals/jwip18 and id is 1 raw text is: The Journal of World Intellectual Property (2015) Vol. 18, no. 1-2, pp. 1-28 doi: 10.1111/Jwip.12032 Improving Access to Medicines in Low-Income Countries: A Review of Mechanisms Cindy Bors Ki ger Partners, Australia Andrew Christie Melbourne Law School, Australia Daniel Gervais Vanderbilt Law School, Tennessee Ellen Wright Clayton Vanderbilt University, Tennessee Individuals in low-income countries (LICs) often lack access to appropriate medicines. The multi-disciplinary nature of this problem requires a holistic approach. Whereas, other writings on the topic tend to focus on one or a small number of issues, often from the perspective of a single discipline, this paper seeks to consider the major issues from a multi-disciplinary perspective. It first considers mechanisms for improving the availability of medicines in LICs, through grants, prizes, treaties, advance market commitments, priority review and product development partnerships to incentivize and fund R&D for neglected diseases. The paper then assesses mechanisms for improving affordability of medicines in LICs, such as differential pricing mechanisms, monopsonies, patent law flexibilities and human rights obligations. Next, the paper reviews mechanisms for improving the efficacy of medicines in LICs, including authentication, criminalization, international and national enforcement and communication and education. Finally, the paper examines mechanisms for improving the obtainability of medicines in LICs, through low-cost intervention, task-shifting, efficient regulation, grass-roots service provision and education. The paper concludes by identifying areas warranting further research. Keywords TRIPS; WHO; Africa; Caribbean On the 24th and 25th of July 2013, the University of Melbourne and Vanderbilt University held the Melbourne-Vanderbilt Roundtable on Access to Medicines (the Roundtable) at the University of Hawaii. In attendance were ten participantsI with expertize in a variety of disciplines, including intellectual property law, health policy, medical ethics, medicine, genetics, public health, economics, pharmaceutical markets and development. The Roundtable was moderated by Andrew Christie and Daniel Gervais, being representatives of the University of Melbourne and Vanderbilt University, respectively. The participants were brought together to contribute to a group discussion on one of the most important global public health issues: improving access to medicine in low-income countries (LICs)2 (Commission on Intellectual Property Rights 2002; Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and Public Health, 2006; Lanjouw, 2005; Watal, 2000; World Bank, 2013, 2014; World Health Organization (WHO) Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, 2001). The multi-disciplinary nature of the problem of access to medicines in LICs requires a holistic approach, especially one that identifies and examines the areas where cross-disciplinary collaboration is valuable. The need for such a discussion was the primary reason for convening the Roundtable. The Roundtable proceedings included presentations on all participants' areas of expertize, reflections across C 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

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