IP Day

Intellectual Property (IP) is our chance to drive positive change

Vandenbruaene Nathalie — Fri, 26 Apr 2024 09:45:12 +0000

Intellectual Property (IP) is our chance to drive positive change

Elise Melon, Global Legal Affairs Policy ＆ Strategy Operations

Vandenbruaene … Fri 26/04/2024 - 11:45

Every year, World Intellectual Property Day is the opportunity to celebrate one of the many contributions IP brings to our lives, and specifically this year, to our sustainable development ambition, and ultimately to a better world, through innovation.

This ambition was captured in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are at the heart of this agenda: 17 goals representing our aspirations or a common, peaceful and prosperous future; 17 goals towards which we should all take action.

The challenges the world is facing behind these 17 goals are increasingly complex and interconnected, so much that they require us to be creative and innovative, in the way we think, act, and critically, in the way we work together and partner to address them.

Too often, IP and development have been pictured at opposing ends. I would argue exactly the opposite: IP and development go hand-in-hand. As Daren Tang, WIPO Director General said it, "IP is the vehicle to turn ideas into impact" and the report recently published by WIPO perfectly illustrates the positive impact of patents in advancing global sustainability efforts, across diverse technology landscapes.

This is particularly true in the biopharmaceutical sector: IP is our chance to contribute advancing towards a more sustainable future, through innovation.

This is not a surprise to us: it is our deep conviction that innovation is critical to progressing on the Sustainable Development Agenda, towards a better, healthier future, for all. That is why, at ��ֳ�, our business approach is rooted in innovation and sustainability. Our sustainability ambition is not "on top of", it is at the core of our strategy. We aspire to create meaningful and long-lasting value for patients, now and into the future, and we are convinced we can only do so through a genuine holistic approach to improve health in society.

It means we aim to create value not only for people with severe diseases, but also for our employees who discover, develop and deliver patient solutions, for the shareholders who invest in our company and fund our work, for the communities where we live and work, while minimizing our impact on the planet which is our shared home.

This integrated approach to drive sustainable growth guides how we do business, with future generations in mind. It also guides our IP strategy, as reflected by our founding role and commitment to the IP PACT.

The circle connecting IP to innovation to SDGs and ultimately, a better common future for all, is a virtuous one - let's celebrate it today and partner to make it stronger tomorrow.

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��ֳ� celebrates World Intellectual Property Day

Vanco Vlastimil (��ֳ� S.A.) — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 08:06:37 +0000

��ֳ� celebrates World Intellectual Property Day

Elise Melon, Global Legal Affairs

Vanco Vlastimi… Wed 26/04/2023 - 10:06

Every year, April 26 is the opportunity for innovators and creators around the world to reflect and highlight the many ways Intellectual Property (IP) impacts our lives. For ��ֳ�, IP is a cornerstone of our ambition to enable people living with severe diseases to live their best lives, now and in the future. The IP system has been playing an instrumental role in the development of many of the medicines that are available today, as well as future medicines, which are currently in our pipeline. This year the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has chosen to celebrate Women in Innovation and Creativity! Over the last few days we have been honored to hear the reflections of ��ֳ� colleagues on the importance of IP to spur and deliver innovation, on the importance of promoting equity, and critically, on the need to foster innovation for women.

At ��ֳ�, women represent over half of our total employees worldwide. We recognize the continuing need to promote equity and are striving to achieve this, including at executive level. As Iris Loew-Friedrich Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, put it, “Equity is not a nice to have, it is a MUST have. Equity needs to be on our mind all the time, we need to value and embrace it in our thinking and actions.”

As pointed out by Marianne Fraiture, the Global Head of Diversity Equity & Inclusion, “In addition to our efforts to attract a diverse range of candidates, we developed the Empowered Females STEM Mentoring Program, to inspire the next generation of women to embark on a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) career. As an example, our gender diversity for gene therapy teams stands above the curve, with 47% of new hires being women compared to a market average of 33%.”

��ֳ� also aims at making a significant difference in supporting women living with chronic disease to live full, innovative, creative and productive lives (learn more at AdvantageHers.com). Women are underrepresented in clinical trials, which can negatively impact women's health. This is even more pronounced for pregnant and breastfeeding women: only 1.7% of clinical trials include pregnant women. ��ֳ� is committed to closing this gap in partnership with clinical teams, physicians, and patients around the world.

Our ambition is for our innovation to transform the lives of people living with severe diseases, and to that purpose, patients and their individual experiences are at the heart of everything we do, including in our approach to IP. At ��ֳ�, we believe our ability to deliver innovative solutions to patients, now and into the future, and in a way which is sustainable for ��ֳ�, for patients and for society can only be supported by a responsible vision and practice of IP, guided by patient and societal value. Discover our approach to IP here.

On this World IP Day, we hope you will join us in celebrating the role of intellectual property in creating patient value and the women and men who push beyond the boundaries of what’s possible and help us shape the future and deliver hope for new solutions.

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Innovating for a better future

eCMSadmin — Sun, 26 Apr 2020 10:30:00 +0000

Innovating for a better future

Stéphane Drouin, Intellectual Property

eCMSadmin Sun 26/04/2020 - 12:30

Article co-authored by Stéphane Drouin, Intellectual Property, and Véronique Toully, Sustainability

Today, all of us, not just those in the pharmaceutical industry, are engaged in a fight against a virus which has put a large part of our world on hold. Our industry is familiar with these kinds of fights, but the need for rapid reaction, the worldwide nature of the outbreak, and diagnosis challenges in this particular fight are a first for our era.

As a result, this pandemic has increased the visibility of many global challenges and we, as a company and as society, need to draw the lessons from this crisis and find the best ways to address these challenges together.

First, we are seeing that the human health and the environmental challenges we have to deal with are interdependent. This pandemic has once more put the spotlight on the extent to which we negatively impact our environment and conversely, the extent to which the imbalances we are creating in the environment can impact us. The concept and the need for a “One Health” approach has never been so relevant.

Recognising this interdependence, ��ֳ�, like many companies, began taking steps to minimize our environmental footprint several years ago. As a company, we have made progress, but there are still many hurdles on the road towards a green future for all. These call on the human brain to rethink the way we do just about everything and, critically, to come up with new and better ways of doing things. In one word, a green(er) future also calls for more innovation.

The past decade has seen a significant development of “green” technologies, for instance in the field of water cleansing and renewable energies. This can be measured by looking at trends in patent data. The number of patent applications relating to renewable energies increased by more than 500% between 2002 and 2012 and still continues to grow today. In 2019 alone, close to 3,000 new patent applications were filed for renewable energies: this means more than 3,000 new inventions which have the potential to make us greener.

Second, it is critical that we continue to innovate in green technologies and, critically for our industry, to meet patients’ unmet needs. This means discovering new solutions for conditions which are already the subject of substantial R&D efforts and to meet the sudden needs which emerge from a pandemic like the one we are facing today. Both require all the resources, tools and expertise – all the power of our innovation engine – to focus on finding a cure.

In the present circumstances, the relevance of a stable and reliable intellectual property (IP) framework is critical. This may not seem obvious to many, especially as some countries or NGOs ask companies to waive the intellectual property rights for treatments which do not exist yet. The biopharmaceutical industry knows the challenges ahead: companies have not only stepped up their efforts, they also have committed to work with all stakeholders to make these medicines and vaccines accessible and affordable so that future treatments and vaccines reach those who need them. In the meantime, these calls ignore that a functioning IP framework has contributed to build the innovation engine we all need to be running full speed to outpace the pandemic.

This same framework has contributed significantly to the creation and accumulation of all the knowledge that we are now able to apply to this new virus, including most of the treatments now being tested against Covid-19. This system is crucial for companies to be able to invest every day in researching and developing innovative medicines to improve the lives of patients. Without the IP system, no company could shoulder the risks of the R&D required to continue the fight in the long term.

This is precisely why the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) chose “Innovate for a Green Future” as the theme for World IP Day 2020. Intellectual property plays a key role in fostering innovation and making these new technologies available for us to contribute to better health and a better future with the limited resources of our planet.

At ��ֳ�, we are convinced that addressing these challenges and being successful as a company go hand in hand. We therefore see sustainability as our business approach and minimizing our environmental footprint is one of the key priority pillars that we are focusing on.

All of us are still trying to manage the ongoing crisis. Yet, at all levels, we are already starting to look at the medium-to-long-term impact of this pandemic and at what “the world after” will – and should – look like.

The decisions we make today will shape what our tomorrow will be. This has always been true for our R&D efforts and it is clear now that this is true for all the business decisions we make. Companies, governments, international organizations, all have a key role to play. We must aim higher and strive to exit this pandemic stronger than before. To achieve this, we must continue to innovate, in the labs and in policy, to deliver on our commitments to patients and society in a sustainable way.

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IP Day

Intellectual Property (IP) is our chance to drive positive change

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��ֳ� celebrates World Intellectual Property Day

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Innovating for a better future

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IP Day

Intellectual Property (IP) is our chance to drive positive change

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������ֳ� celebrates World Intellectual Property Day

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Innovating for a better future

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��ֳ� celebrates World Intellectual Property Day