Deadline: 1-Feb-23
Unitaid is pleased to announce a new Call for Proposals on supporting the use of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) flexibilities and other intellectual property-related solutions to facilitate access to health products.
Unitaid aims to improve access to health products in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Unitaid recognizes that there are many determinants of access; intellectual property rights are one of them. The intellectual property system has been designed to incentivize innovation and has been effective in stimulating and rewarding innovation in several of the disease areas that Unitaid works on. But while patents can incentivize innovation, they also contribute to inequity in access to health products, as has been increasingly recognized in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. TRIPS flexibilities are intended to address this – and thereby represent an essential part of the intellectual property system.
The objective of this Call for Proposals is to continue and expand the use of TRIPS flexibilities and other solutions to prevent, overcome or remove unwarranted intellectual property barriers, in order to ensure affordability and availability of health products in LMICs. In particular, Unitaid is interested in ensuring the availability and affordability of health products [1] – including biologics – for HIV, TB, hepatitis C, and other diseases and conditions in alignment with the programmatic priorities outlined in Unitaid’s Strategy 2023-2027.
Interventions in scope include civil-society led efforts to implement and expand the use of TRIPS flexibilities; capacity building and technical support for the implementation of TRIPS flexibilities and other intellectual property-related solutions that facilitate access to health products; and work on intellectual property policies aiming to enhance supply security and support local or regional manufacturing. The objective of this work is to ensure equitable access to health products.
Scope
Under this call, Unitaid is soliciting proposals to prevent, remove or overcome IP-related barriers that hamper access to health products, in order to increase equitable access to affordable and appropriately formulated medicines, biologics, vaccines and diagnostics for people in LMICs. Proposals may address one or more of the areas of work listed.
- Area 1: Direct interventions to prevent, remove or overcome IP-related barriers that hamper access to specific health products. Direct interventions should focus on products to prevent, diagnose or treat HIV, TB, hepatitis C, and/or other diseases and conditions aligned with the programmatic priorities in Unitaid’s Strategy 2023-2027. The scope includes biologic products. Direct interventions are for example:
- Preparing and filing (pre-grant) patent oppositions,
- Using other TRIPS flexibilities,
- Removing barriers related to trade secrets, data exclusivity and/or regulatory exclusivity,
- These interventions may be supported by demand generation work and/or resource mobilization for this type of work.
- Area 2: Interventions that support the use of TRIPS flexibilities and other approaches to prevent, remove or overcome IP-related barriers, with the aim to enhance access to health products, such as:
- Raising awareness and building capacity on the importance and use of TRIPS flexibilities and other approaches to overcome intellectual property barriers, where they exist,
- Advocacy for the use of TRIPS flexibilities and/or other intellectual property-related solutions that facilitate access to health products,
- Working with patent offices in order to improve the quality of patent examination,
- Creating/implementing a mechanism, at global or regional level, to provide technical support on IP issues and/or to the use of TRIPS flexibilities in countries,
- Providing training and/or training-of-trainers on intellectual property rights and access to medicine for civil society and/or government stakeholders.
- Area 3: Interventions that address policies, regulations and/or system-issues related to intellectual property and access to health products, and that aim to enhance access to health products, such as:
- Advocating for and pioneering measures to safeguard access to innovations that result from publicly funded R&D, or to incentivize upstream innovations in ways that support widespread access,
- Creating an intellectual property, regulatory and policy environment in which local manufacturing can thrive,
- Providing input in global, regional, and national treaties, agreements and regulations related to intellectual property rights, in order to safeguard or enhance access to health products without deterring innovation,
- Exploring the introduction and/or use of competition law as an alternative to, or to complement, the use of TRIPS flexibilities,
- Enhancing policy coherence between national authorities responsible for health, trade, and intellectual property rights,
- Safeguarding policy space by raising awareness about the implications of “TRIPS-plus” provisions in trade agreements.
- Area 4: Advocacy and engagement with governments, industry and other stakeholders in LMICs and/or high-income countries in favour of policies and solutions that facilitate access to and uptake of products for the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of people in LMICs, now and in the future.
- Civil society-led work on intellectual property and access to health products is important and can be a key factor contributing to the success of interventions. Proposals should therefore clearly indicate the role of and collaboration with communities and civil society.
- Unitaid sees value in proposals from South-based implementors with experience in working on IP and access to health products in countries. They encourage coordination and collaboration across implementors and are interested in proposals that would have global impact or impact in several regions.
- Proposals should be carefully targeted, reflecting focused interventions to address key challenges with regard to intellectual property rights and access to health products. Proposals are expected to target one or more of the areas of work listed. Proposals may, but do not have to, cover all four areas. Proposals should clearly indicate the level of effort and budget for each area.
- Proposals should demonstrate value for money and measurable impact. Proposals should also include analysis of pathways to impact, scalability and sustainability of key interventions.
- Areas out of scope for this Call include proposals: a) product development; b) establishment of mechanisms such as prize funds aimed at incentivizing innovation and R&D; c) capacity building and reforms not related to intellectual property and access to health products. Also out of scope are proposals or activities that are not in line or not compatible with the TRIPS Agreement or other multilateral treaties on intellectual property rights.
Objectives
- The objectives outlined will lead to:
- Better health outcomes due to additional people being treated, or due to people receiving better treatments
- Financial savings/efficiencies due to the availability and use of more affordable products, and
- Improved and more equitable access by making products available and/or affordable in LMICs. The ultimate goal is to enable widespread access to affordable health products through scale-up by governments and partners, in order to contribute to the global health response to diseases that predominantly affect people in LMICs.
Impact
- Through this Call for Proposals, Unitaid aims to improve access to health products of public health importance in low- and middle-income countries, and in particular:
- To increase their affordability in LMICs,
- To facilitate the supply of better adapted and appropriate health products in LMICs,
- To increase their adoption and use in LMICs,
- To contribute to diversifying the supply-base of health products in LMICs.
Eligibility Criteria
- Take their questionnaire to find out whether your proposal could be eligible for Unitaid funding.
- Does your proposal address at least one of the areas specified in the current, open call for proposals?
- Can your proposal plausibly demonstrate potential for achieving global impact?
- Is your proposed approach innovative?
- Is your proposal sustainable and scalable?
- Are your target countries low- or middle–income?
- Does your organization have a proven track record implementing similar projects?
- Is your proposal’s budget scoped at the minimum size?
- Does your proposal demonstrate good value for money?
For more information, visit https://bit.ly/3h56X43