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International Council of Biotech Associations (ICBA)

AusBiotech is a member of the International Council of Biotech Associations (ICBA), which advocates for public policies that support the global growth of biotechnology.

The ICBA was established at the BIO International Convention in 2014 and has membership across six continents, including:

The ICBA Chairman is Mr Andrew Casey, President and CEO, BIOTECanada and Vice-Chairman is Mr Steve Bates, CEO, UK BioIndustry Association.

Statements and recent activities

United Nation's High Level Panel on Access to Medicines

In 2016, the ICBA issued a statement expressing its concern over the United Nation’s (UN) ‘High Level Panel on Access to Medicines’ report. In the statement, the ICBA acknowledged the importance of improving access to medicines for all nations and criticised the UN’s report for its limited focus and recommendations to weaken intellectual property.

AMR Industy Alliance

Recently, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Associations (IFPMA) formed an 'AMR Industry Alliance'. The ICBA is now a member of the governing board, represented by Vice-Chairman, Mr Steve Bates.

Background:

  • Antimicrobial resistance has gained considerable visibility in the last few years, and was recognized as one of the most important global health challenges by several institutions. The World Health Organization has developed a Global Action Plan, several countries have shown important leadership in putting AMR on top of the national and international agenda, the G7 and G20 have both recognized the importance of the topic and the United Nations (UN) endorsed a Political Declaration on AMR during the High-Level Meeting on AMR which was held in New York in the margin of the 70th General Assembly.
  • The biopharmaceutical industry has been actively engaged in many of the above discussions to raise awareness on the challenges it encounters and demonstrate its commitment to be a solution provider in the fight against AMR. The launch of the AMR Industry Declaration in Davos in January 2016 sent a clear message that the biopharmaceutical industry, despite being a diverse sector, is committed to engaging in a coordinated manner and working in partnership with key stakeholders. The Declaration also highlighted the need for collective action with a strengthened engagement from national governments. This first Declaration was complemented in September 2016 by an Industry Roadmap launched at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), focusing on 4 key areas of action (environment, appropriate promotion and use, access and R&D) with more specific commitments from its signatories.

Proposal:

  • In order to build on the momentum created by the Declaration and the Roadmap and to continue progress in the fight against AMR, we propose to create the “AMR industry Alliance”. The “AMR Industry Alliance” will represent the signatories of the AMR Declaration and the Roadmap.

AMR Industry Alliance objectives:

  • Provide oversight and facilitate the implementation of the Declaration and Roadmap’s commitments (including managing updates to the Declaration and Roadmap, as well as the development of new documents as appropriate).
  • Develop and manage the reporting mechanism to collect information on the progress made by signatories across the different commitments of the Davos Declaration and Industry Roadmap.

Upcoming activities

Alongside regular teleconferences, each year ICBA hosts a high level governmental meeting during the BIO conference. The meeting gives high level government officials from ICBA member countries the opportunity to highlight the monumental innovation agenda in their country, share best practices in fostering an innovative biotechnology sector and learn about new life-saving technologies under development by the industry.