Side Event

A Case Study and Industry Guidelines on Access and Benefit Sharing [OFFSITE EVENT - Großer Bankettraum, Parkrestaurant Rheinaue]

Organizer
International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) and the German Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (VFA)

Date and Time
26 May 2008 13:30 - 15:0

Meeting
Ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 9)

Elements of an international regime on Access to genetic resources and Benefit Sharing (ABS) are an important part of the negotiation schedule of COP 9. It is of key importance that this regime will be appropriate to incentivize, and not impede, research and development in natural substances. The organizers of the side event, IFPMA and VFA, consider it important and useful to show the reality of such research activities. For this purpose, a representative of the company Novartis will introduce the COARTEM-program which was pursued with the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, including the involved ABS agreements. In the second part of the event IFPMA will present the guidelines which it developed for its member companies in order to promote the ABS objectives of the CBD. Finally, the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) will participate in the event with a statement. The organizers look forward to a lively discussion with the participants. Media representatives are welcome and the speakers will be available afterwards to talk to journalists. The meeting place is about 10 minutes walking distance from the entrance of the BMU building