Supporting the local production of medicines

Phase 1 of this project concentrates on identifying the main challenges and obstacles to local production of medical products and related technology transfer in developing countries. The aim of this work was to develop a framework that could bring together and guide policymakers and others from all relevant fields to support the local production of medicines, vaccines and diagnostics in a manner that should improve access maximizing the potential to improve public health.

The project is in the context of the Global Strategy and Plan of Action on Public Health Innovation and Intellectual Property supported with funding from the European Union. The outputs of phase 1 were published at a seminar in the European Parliament on 7 December 2011.

The project is undertaken in partnership with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) and a range of stakeholders working in the fields of public health, industrial policy and development.

The project involved: commissioned literature reviews to describe the current landscape and historical and current trends; regional workshops with a broad range of stakeholders; and in-country work to investigate and describe a series of company-focused case studies from low- and middle- income countries.

Source: WHO Release News