Access to Medicines: Current Information

 

There are several websites devoted to the topics covered in this guide.

 

§         The Consumer Project on Technology (CPTech) website provides a comprehensive introduction to intellectual property rights and health. 

 

o       Consumer Project on Technology: http://www.cptech.org/ip/health/

 

§         CPTech also runs a moderated discussion group, IP-Health, that covers recent developments related to intellectual property regulation and access to pharmaceutics. 

 

o       IP-Health: http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/ip-health

 

§         The Doctors Without Borders/Médicins Sans Frontières (MSF) Access to Essential Medicines Campaign website provides a critique of current international efforts to provide access to medicines.  The MSF website focuses both on intellectual property regulation as it effects access to medicines and on the development of drugs to treat diseases specific to developing countries. 

 

o       Doctors Without Borders (MSF): http://www.accessmed-msf.org

 

§         The World Health Organization (WHO) website on essential medicines is a good starting point for information on the factors that affect both the price and the quality of medicines dispensed in the developing world.  E-Drug is a discussion group devoted to current issues related to the efficient provision of drugs in the developing world.

 

o       World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/medicines/

o       E-Drug: http://www.essentialdrugs.org/edrug/about.php

 

§         The World Trade Organization (WTO) website provides a good overview of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement, the most recent and most important treaty covering intellectual property. 

 

o       World Trade Organization: www.wto.org

 

§         The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) website provides a more general introduction to global regulation of intellectual property.

 

o       World Intellectual Property Organization: http://www.wipo.org/

 

§         The Bridges website provides extensive coverage of intellectual property regulation as it pertains to development and access to medicines. 

 

o       Bridges: http://www.ictsd.org/iprsonline/resources/health.htm

 

§         The ELDIS website focuses on development issues and has a section devoted to intellectual property rights.  ELDIS provides current news updates and summaries of articles related to intellectual property in the developing world, including access to pharmaceuticals.

 

o       ELDIS on Intellectual Property Rights: http://www.eldis.org/ipr/index.htm