LSIPR 50 2016: Guido Rasi and Luis Salaices
Name: Guido Rasi
Organisation: European Medicines Agency
Position: Executive director
Guido Rasi holds a degree in surgery and medicine from the University of Rome, with specialisations in clinical immunology, allergology and internal medicine. From 1990 to 2005 he worked at the Institute for Experimental Medicine of the National Research Council in Italy.
"Rasi oversees the innovation task force, a multidisciplinary group that ensures coordination on emerging therapies and technologies across scientific, legal and regulatory arms of the EMA."
From November 2011 to November 2014 he worked as executive director of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which was his first term. The EMA is a decentralised agency of the EU responsible for the scientific evaluation, supervision and safety monitoring of medicines by pharmaceutical companies in the EU. Rasi then worked as principal strategy adviser until November 2015, when his second term as executive director began.
In 2014, the EMA published its new policy on clinical trial results and clinical study reports. At the time Rasi said the new policy “sets a new standard for transparency in public health and pharmaceutical research and development.”
As the executive director, Rasi is also responsible for overseeing the innovation task force (ITF), a multidisciplinary group that ensures coordination on emerging therapies and technologies across scientific, legal and regulatory arms of the EMA. The ITF aims to deal with therapies and products with which the EMA has no current experience, for example CRISPR gene-editing technology, genomics and pharmacogenomics. In effect, the existence of this group should enable new therapies and technologies to be trialled and brought to market more quickly by facilitating communications at each stage of development.
Name: Luis Salaices
Organisation: International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants
Position: President of the council
Luis Salaices is the president of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants’ (UPOV) council. The UPOV is an intergovernmental organisation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Established in 1961, the mission of the UPOV is to provide and promote an effective system of plant variety protection.
In 2013, when Salaices was vice president at the organisation in Spain, he discussed property rights under the UPOV system. Some of the points covered included providing and promoting an effective system to protect plant varieties and develop new plant species which benefit and meet the needs of the population.
"In the UPOV council’s 49th ordinary session, which was held in October 2015, it was revealed that a total of 59 members offered protection to plant genera and species."
The impact of plant variety protection has increased breeding activities, led to diversified types of breeders, encouraged industry competitiveness in foreign markets and improved access to foreign plant varieties, as well as enhanced domestic breeding programmes.
In the UPOV council’s 49th ordinary session, which was held in October 2015, it was revealed that a total of 59 members offered protection to plant genera and species. It noted that the number of applications in the UPOV exceeded 15,000 for the first time, with a 4.8% increase in the number of applications by UPOV members for plant variety protection and an 8.4% rise in the number of applications by non-residents.
The council also revealed that it had published new guidance on the definition of breeders, harvested material, and the use of biochemical and molecular techniques in the examination of distinctness, uniformity and stability.
