The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH) announced WIPO Re:Search – “an (unprecedented) new consortium where public and private sector organizations share valuable intellectual property (IP) and expertise with the global health research community to promote development of new drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics to treat neglected tropical diseases, malaria, and tuberculosis.” WIPO Director General Francis Gurry commented, “WIPO Re:Search is a ground breaking example of how a multi-stakeholder coalition can put IP to work for social benefit. By joining WIPO Re:Search, companies and researchers commit to making selected intellectual property assets available under royalty-free licenses to qualified researchers anywhere in the world for research and development on neglected tropical diseases, malaria, and tuberculosis. This commitment should accelerate the development of medicines, vaccines, and diagnostics for these diseases.”

WIPO Re:Search involves the following organizations at launch: Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, Eisai, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck/MSD, Novartis, Pfizer,    Sanofi, NIH, California Institute of Technology, Center for World Health & Medicine,     Drugs for Neglected Diseases, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Medicines for Malaria Venture, PATH, South African Medical Research Council, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, University of California, Berkeley, and University of Dundee (UK). Membership in WIPO Re:Search as “a user, provider, or supporter is open to all organizations that endorse, adhere to, and support the project’s Guiding Principles.” These Guiding Principles include the commitment that IP licensed via WIPO Re:Search will be licensed on a royalty-free basis for research and development on neglected tropical diseases in any country and on a royalty-free basis for sale of neglected tropical disease medicines in, or to, least developed countries.

The WIPO Re:Search database includes “a wide variety of contributions relevant to malaria, tuberculosis, and other neglected tropical diseases, including individual compounds and associated data, screening hits from compound libraries, and expertise and know-how in pharmaceutical research and development. In addition, WIPO Re:Search offers the opportunity for neglected tropical disease researchers to work directly with scientists at pharmaceutical companies to advance R&D on these diseases.”

http://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2011/article_0026.html