Impact case study database

Accessibility and affordability of medicines and new health technologies has attracted considerable attention from governments, international organisations, civil society groups, and specialised United Nations (UN) agencies. As such, accessibility and affordability of medicines is viewed as a global challenge. Statistics indicate that one third of the global population lacks reliable access to medicines. More than 13% of Americans, about 34 million people, say a friend or family member recently passed away in the last five years after being unable to afford treatment for a condition, according to a recent poll from Gallup and West Health. A recent study in the UK found that total NHS spending on medicines in England has grown from GBP13,000,000,000 in 2010/11 to GBP17,400,000,000 in 2016/17 – an average growth of around 5% a year. The situation is even worse in the poorest countries of Africa and Asia, where as much as 50% of the population lacks such access. While some 10 million lives a year could be saved by improving access to essential medicines and vaccines, 4 million in Africa and South-East Asia alone, a major obstacle to achieving this has been the price. In 2016, the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines highlighted the negative impact arising from strengthened levels of IP on access to medicines and medical health technologies. The current global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has also raised considerable challenges at the global level, giving El Said’s work higher recognition and relevance. El Said’s research addresses these issues within the context of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) with a focus on SDG3, Good Health and Well Being and SDG10, Reduced Inequalities.

Research undertaken by El Said has informed research, policy makers and international agencies on the relationship between IP and patent laws and access to medicines through focusing on raising awareness and proposing solutions to improve access to medicines nationally, regionally and globally [3]. In 2010, El Said solely authored a policy guide for the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the impact of IP and free trade agreements on access to medicines. This was the first publication of its type in the Eastern Mediterranean Regional office of the WHO (EMRO) targeting policy makers and government officials [5]. El Said was also the legal lead for the REWARD project (2014-2019) which is funded by the European Research Council (ERC). The objective of REWARD was to create an ethically and legally sound performance-based reward tool for pharmaceutical innovation, which complements the existing patent regime, yet mitigates its considerable disadvantages for the global poor [2].

El Said has been the sole author of publications and policy documents for the WHO [5] and co-author of United Nations Development Programme publications (UNDP) [6] in both English and Arabic languages. The research was initiated in 2005. There has been continuing international impact with important developments within the current REF period, impacting on legislatures, policy makers, international organisations, civil society groups and researchers in countries where reform of the patent regime has taken place or is being considered. The global COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted the importance of access to medicines. El Said’s research has become increasingly relevant as Lower Middle-Income Countries (LMIC) struggle to deal with the impacts of the pandemic [1].

El Said’s involvement in international high-level policy research with international organisations has contributed to international debate. He has advised policy makers in several countries on the reform of their patent legislation, with the aim of improving access to medicines and public health.

Since the publication of the Policy Guide by WHO in 2010 [5], El Said continued to be actively involved in the global debate on IP and access to medicines. In 2011 he co-authored (with one other international expert) a working paper on the role of IP Law and Policy on Access to Medicines for the Global Commission on HIV and the Law which was published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) [4]. El Said’s contribution in the working paper was significant in terms of analysing current global IP norms and in making recommendations about reforming the global IP regime [A].

Since 2010, El Said has been approached by a number of leading global organisations to share his research insights on policy approaches and agendas. For example, El Said’s research ‘contributed to setting the ground for the implementation work that has been undertaken’ by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) [G]. El Said’s research was sought by Unitaid (of which the UK is a founding member). Unitaid is a global health initiative that works with partners to develop innovation in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of major diseases in LMICs. The initiative states the importance of El Said’s contributions as: ‘’his inputs and suggestions have helped shape Unitaid’s approach to intellectual property rights and access to medicines’’ [H]. In addition, the work of El Said has been recognised by other organisations such as the South Centre, an intergovernmental organisation of developing nations that undertakes research and analysis on various international policy areas which are considered key to the protection and promotion of the interests of developing countries. The South Centre recognised El Said’s research as: ‘‘useful for policy makers to address those issues at the national and regional level, notably with relation to process of reform of patent laws’’ [I].

In January 2017, El Said was invited by the UNDP to edit the Arabic language version of the UN High-Panel Report [J]. The impact of the translation for the Arabic speaking countries is vital in assisting these countries in keeping up with international developments and in taking a more active role in policy debates nationally and internationally. As stated by UNDP: ‘‘the significance of the report’s availability for the Arabic speaking countries was highlighted to us through the positive feedback we continue to receive from officials in these” [J].

El Said’s research has led to national training, policy decisions, proposals and amendments to legislations in [text removed for publication]. It has been used to advance a set of rationales for legal intervention and legislative reform through national workshops with policy makers and led to policy recommendations. This has already led to legislative reform in [text removed for publication] and [text removed for publication] [I, J].