---
title: "New Report Showcases the Role of Intellectual Property in Solving Global Health Challenges"
date: "2018-04-24"
content_type: "Press Releases"
canonical_url: "https://itif.org/publications/2018/04/24/new-report-showcases-role-intellectual-property-solving-global-health/"
---

# New Report Showcases the Role of Intellectual Property in Solving Global Health Challenges

WASHINGTON—Many of the world’s greatest health challenges are being solved by new innovations emerging from the developing world. However, to address these opportunities, a [new report](/publications/2018/04/24/innovate4health-how-innovators-are-solving-global-health-challenges) reveals that robust intellectual property rights play a key role in enabling life-sciences and healthcare innovation. The joint initiative by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) and George Mason University’s Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property (CPIP) showcases how property rights enable innovation, bring new ideas to market, and improve lives across the developing world.

“Innovation and the property rights that secure it are key to meeting global health challenges,” said ITIF Vice President Stephen Ezell, co-author of the report. “When people are in need, it’s easy to grow impatient with the rights of innovators. But rather than an obstacle to be overcome, stronger intellectual property rights create greater opportunity for entrepreneurs to invent and for those innovations to benefit the world’s citizens, even in the remotest corners of the developing world.”

A culmination of the joint [Innovate4Health](https://medium.com/innovate4health) initiative, the report profiles 25 original case studies showcasing how entrepreneurs, many in developing countries, are promoting innovation in life-sciences and healthcare in their nations and across the broader developing world. The case studies are organized into six themes:

- Adapting healthcare interventions for environments where resources and infrastructure are challenging;
- Providing affordable and robust tests for diagnosing diseases;
- Improving HIV diagnosis and care;
- Delivering affordable interventions to meet basic needs in challenging environments;
- Getting healthcare to the people in places where it’s hard for people to come to the healthcare;
- Fostering health innovation in emerging economies.

“A better understanding of how innovation can meet global health challenges would result in better public policy,” said Mark Schultz, CPIP Director of Academic Programs & Senior Scholar and co-author of the report. “IP-enabled life-sciences innovations are helping to tackle some of the world’s toughest health issues, and with the right policies in place, these innovations will be able to reach those that need them most.”

[Read the report](/publications/2018/04/24/innovate4health-how-innovators-are-solving-global-health-challenges).

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*Source: Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF)*
*URL: https://itif.org/publications/2018/04/24/new-report-showcases-role-intellectual-property-solving-global-health/*