Intellectual Property Management Strategies to Accelerate the Development and Access of Vaccines and Diagnostics: Case Studies on Pandemic Influenza, Malaria and SARS

Achieving global access to vaccines, diagnostics, and pharmaceuticals remains a challenge. Throughout the developing world, intellectual property (IP) constraints complicate access to critically essential medical technologies and products. Vaccines for malaria and pandemic strains of influenza, as well as diagnostic and vaccine technologies for SARS, are not only relevant to global public health but are particularly critical to the needs of developing countries. A global access solution is urgently needed. This article offers a timely case‐by‐case analysis of preliminary patent landscape surveys and formulates options via patent pools and other forms of creative IP management to accelerate development and access. The analysis of the feasibility of patent pools reveals several impediments to patent pools: these include antitrust considerations, bargaining difficulties caused by asymmetric interests and asymmetric rights among IP holders (e.g. improvement vs. foundational patents), and the difficulties of securing financial support given the significant transaction costs associated with pools. Because of the above conceptual and operational hurdles, patent pools do not appear to be a feasible way to accelerate development. Other mechanisms, however, can ameliorate IP constraints. For example, a key IP constraint related to pandemic influenza vaccines R&D appears to have been resolved when Medimmune secured the assembly of all relevant reverse genetics IP and pledged broad access. Clearly, the landscape is complex and multidimensional. Licensing systems are not the only issue. Measures must also be taken to limit regulatory hurdles and enable the swift, legal production of pandemic influenza vaccines to meet the needs of developing countries. This is why a comprehensive analysis is so necessary. From a strictly legal perspective, IP systems work through the power to exclude. However, as this study’s exploration and formulation of creative licensing strategies reveals, it is also true that IP can be structured and managed to work through the “power to include.

COVID-19 Diagnosis: A Review of Rapid Antigen, RT-PCR and Artificial Intelligence Methods

As of 27 December 2021, SARS-CoV-2 has infected over 278 million persons and caused 5.3 million deaths. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, different methods, from medical to artificial intelligence, have been used for its detection, diagnosis, and surveillance. Meanwhile, fast and efficient point-of-care (POC) testing and self-testing kits have become necessary in the fight against COVID-19 and to assist healthcare personnel and governments curb the spread of the virus. This paper presents a review of the various types of COVID-19 detection methods, diagnostic technologies, and surveillance approaches that have been used or proposed. The review provided in this article should be beneficial to researchers in this field and health policymakers at large

Spatiotemporal Dynamics of COVID-19 Infections in Mainland Portugal

Silva, M., Betco, I., Capinha, C., Roquette, R., Viana, C. M., & Rocha, J. (2022). Spatiotemporal Dynamics of COVID-19 Infections in Mainland Portugal. Sustainability, 14(16), 1-28. [10370]. https://doi.org/10.3390/su141610370------This work was financed by national funds through FCT—Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., under the framework of the project ‘TRIAD-Health Risk and Social Vulnerability to Arboviral Diseases in Mainland Portugal’ (PTDC/GES -OUT/30210/2017) and by the Research Unit UIDB/00295/2020 and UIDP/00295/2020. M.S. was supported by ABS-Covid-Anthropogenic Base Factors of Spreading COVID project, CERU, Council of Europe, EUROPA Major Hazards Agreement. C.C. was funded through FCT, I.P., under the program ‘Stimulus of Scientific Employment—Individual Support’ within the contract CEECIND/02037/2017.The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 as a pandemic disease on 12 March 2020. Currently, this disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus remains one of the biggest public health problems in the world. Thus, it is essential to apply methods that enable a better understanding of the virus diffusion processes, not only at the spatial level but also at the spatiotemporal one. To that end, we tried to understand the spatial distribution of COVID-19 pathology in continental Portugal at the municipal level and to comprehend how mobility influences transmission. We used autocorrelation indices such as Getis-Ord (with Euclidian distance and commuting values), Local Moran, and a new hybrid approach. Likewise, aiming to identify the spatiotemporal patterns of the virus propagation by using Man–Kendall statistics, we found that most hotspots of infected individuals occur in the municipalities of metropolitan areas. The spatiotemporal analysis identified most of the municipalities as oscillating hotspots.publishersversionpublishe

Emergence of Major Pandemics: Examining the Use of AI for the Fight Against Covid-19

Covid-19 is an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus and which is considered today as a global health emergency. Long before this pandemic, several others such as the plague of Athens, the plague of Antonine, the black plague, the Spanish flu, cholera, the Asian flu, AIDS raged, with consequences as fatal, even more serious than covid-19. The emergence of AI over the past ten years has brought it to the forefront of the response to this disease. The objective of this work is to present the significant contribution of AI in the fight against the new coronavirus, comparing it to previous large pandemics. A preliminary search of information related to past pandemics and covid-19 has been carried out. Next, the contribution of AI following the WHO framework for combating pandemics was presented. Finally, the discussion part resulted in the conclusion that if AI had already been fundamentally implemented during the time of the other major pandemics, the damage to human losses would have been less

Legal Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Put Health, Safety and Equity First

The COVID-19 viral pandemic exposed equity and safety culture gaps in American legal education. Legal education forms part of America’s Critical Infrastructure whose continuity is important to the economy, public safety, democracy, and the national security of the United States. To address the COVID-19 pandemic and prepare for future viral pandemics and safety risks, this article recommends law schools develop a safety culture to foster health, safety, robust educational dialogue, and equity. To guide safety-and-equity-centered decision-making and promote effective legal education during and following the COVID-19 pandemic, this article contends legal education must put health, safety, and equity first. It proposes an ethical framework for legal education that centers diversity and inclusion as the foundation of robust educational dialogue. This article’s interdisciplinary analysis of COVID-19 scientific studies recommends law schools follow the science and exercise extreme caution before convening classes in person or in a hybrid fashion. COVID-19 infection risks serious illness, long-lasting complications, and death. It has preyed on America’s inequities. African-Americans, Native Americans, Latinx Americans, older Americans, and those with certain underlying health conditions including pregnant women face higher levels of hospitalization and death from COVID-19 infection. COVID-19’s inequitable risks may separate those participating in class in person, or online, by race, ethnicity, tribe, age, and health. Law schools must ensure that during the COVID-19 health emergency, hybrid or in-person pedagogical models do not undermine diversity and inclusion that supports educational dialogue and First Amendment values. The COVID-19 pandemic underscores the imperative of putting health, safety, and equity first in legal education