PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 623 - 5 Mar 2011 A fine balance between innovation and cheap drugs A balance between the promotion of innovative new therapies and enabling manufacturers to produce cheaper drugs needs to be struck, according to experts who attended a meeting held by WHO, the World Intellectual Property Organization and the World Trade Organization. They say that new ways are needed to "ensure that public health systems in poor countries can provide universal access to lifesaving drugs". Speaking at the meeting, the Director General of WHO, Margaret Chan, says that developing countries could save around 60% of their pharmaceutical spending if they switched from branded to generic drugs. She says this has been made more difficult by the trend for the globalisation of patent protection and since the introduction of the trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights in 1994, which stopped a country’s right to not patent drugs. The agencies are now working together to develop a database to support health officials in making purchasing decisions and for drawing up drug-treatment guidelines. The global databases under development will host information on the patent status of health products worldwide. Zarocostas J. Patent rules must not hinder access to cheap drugs in poor countries, experts say. BMJ : [3 pages], 22 Feb 2011. Available from: URL: http:// dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d1219 801157668 1173-5503/10/0623-0001/$14.95 © 2010 Adis Data Information BV. All rights reserved PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 5 Mar 2011 No. 623