GENEVA - WIPO Re:Search has now surpassed 100 members and is just shy of 100 agreements to share intellectual property in the fight against neglected tropical diseases, tuberculosis and malaria - both significant milestones for the consortium as it heads into its fifth full year of operation, a press release by WIPO stated.
The storied French research foundation Institut Pasteur became the 101st member of WIPO Re:Search last month as the consortium also signed its 99th collaboration to bring together research bodies aiming to promote new diagnostics, vaccines and treatments for diseases that afflict more than one billion people worldwide, largely in poorer regions.
“WIPO Re:Search continues to expand its network across the globe, bringing together leading research organizations from developing and developed countries to share intellectual property and scientific data in order to accelerate drug discovery to fight against diseases that affect the world’s most-vulnerable populations,” said WIPO Director General Francis Gurry. “Institut Pasteur now brings more than a century of pioneering research in medicine and vaccines to that effort, further strengthening the work of this unique collaboration.”
WIPO Re:Search allows organizations to share their intellectual property, compounds, expertise, facilities and know-how royalty-free with qualified researchers worldwide working on new solutions for the maladies, which affect more than one billion people across the globe.
President of WIPO Re:Search partner BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH) Jennifer Dent welcomed the results. “WIPO Re:Search is an important initiative in the effort to eliminate neglected tropical diseases. The many collaborations facilitated by BVGH between industry and endemic-country institutions are a critical component to the success of this effort,” she said.
“By joining the WIPO Re:Search consortium, Institut Pasteur looks forward to furthering its longstanding commitment to combating infectious diseases and its mission together with the Institut Pasteur International Network in 33 countries to contribute solving global health issues, in particular through technology transfer and partnerships”, said Christian Bréchot, President of the Institut Pasteur.
Under the most-recently agreed collaboration, researchers from University of Ibadan in Nigeria and National Institute of Parasitic Diseases (NIPD), Chinese CDC /Fudan University, will work together on serum samples from Nigerian schistosomiasis patients.
WIPO Re:Search, launched in late 2011, provides a searchable, public database of available intellectual property assets and resources. Through the consortium, BVGH facilitates new partnerships to support organizations that conduct research on treatments for neglected tropical diseases, ultimately improving the lives of those most in need.
The consortium added 10 new partners in 2015 and finalized 21 collaboration agreements.
Financial supporters of WIPO Re:Search’s activities include: Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. of the United States; Eisai Co. Ltd of Japan; GlaxoSmithKline plc of the United Kingdom; Johnson & Johnson / Janssen of the United States; Merck KGaA of Germany; MSD (Merck & Co., Inc.) of the United States; Novartis AG of Switzerland; Pfizer Inc. of the United States; Sanofi SA of France; Takeda Pharmaceuticals of Japan; and the governments of Australia and Japan.
About Neglected Tropical Diseases, malaria and tuberculosis: The 19 neglected tropical diseases and conditions prioritized by the World Health Organization, affect over one billion people in 149 endemic countries. Malaria and tuberculosis are also prevalent in developing countries, where these ailments hinder social and economic development. For more information: http://www.who.int/neglected_diseases/en/.
About BVGH: BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH) is a non-profit organization based in Seattle, Washington, dedicated to solving global health issues by forming connections between people, resources, and ideas. BVGH works at the crossroads of the biopharmaceutical industry and global health to find the common ground between the aspirations of the global health community and the strategic priorities of companies.
About the Institut Pasteur: The Institut Pasteur, a private foundation with officially recognized charitable status set up by Louis Pasteur in 1887, is today an internationally renowned center for biomedical research with a network of 33 institutes worldwide. In the pursuit of its mission to prevent and fight against diseases in France and throughout the world, the Institut Pasteur operates in four main areas: scientific and medical research, public health and health monitoring, teaching, and business development and technology transfer.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is the global forum for intellectual property policy, services, information and cooperation. A specialized agency of the United Nations, WIPO assists its 188 member states in developing a balanced international IP legal framework to meet society's evolving needs. It provides business services for obtaining IP rights in multiple countries and resolving disputes. It delivers capacity-building programs to help developing countries benefit from using IP. And it provides free access to unique knowledge banks of IP information.