 | Hilde Stevens Professor in Health Innovation & Society - Institute for Interdisciplinary Innovation in healthcare (I³h) Law |
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03.09.2025-30.09.2025
Collaborative models to advance affordable, equitable and timely access to innovative health technologies
Affordable access to essential medicines (EMs) is still very poor in many low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Within the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) health goal, Target 3.b reiterates the importance of access to affordable EMs and vaccines, in accordance with the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health. There is a need to analyse evidence from pharmaceutical business models based on licensing, differential pricing and advanced market commitments. The research results and evidence from literature on public-private partnerships (PPPs) focusing on poverty-related and neglected diseases (PRNDs) will be discussed with experts across the healthcare spectrum. It is our aim to reflect further upon the appropriate role of PRND-PPPs for public health.
This research project is the continuation of previous work of Prof. Hilde Stevens and her team on affordable access to health technologies. During the Brocher residency, the researcher aims to reflect upon and develop a high-impact research proposal on the solutions needed to address collaboration on the multiple challenges in the healthcare sector. Based on the expertise and insight of Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) from the different international (inter-) governmental organisations and PRND-focused PPPs residing in and near Geneva, the project results will present a better understanding of the process of including access provisions in collaborative models’ contracts, the impact of framework conditions and market organization characteristics, and the effectiveness of policy interventions.
The topic of this research will serve as the basis to file for a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant to expand the project team and further elaborate on the innovative and ground-breaking research. The ERC Starting Grant will provide the means to attract new PhD researchers and post-doctoral researchers that will conduct research on optimal IP frameworks for collaborative models advancing affordable healthcare technologies for people suffering from PRNDs in the LMICs.
As previous research results were published in Nature Biotechnology and Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, it is the aim to also publish follow-on research results obtained during the residency in similar high-impact peer-reviewed scientific journals. By publishing the research in high-impact journals and (inter–) governmental organisation reports and presenting them on international conferences, they will inform (1) technology transfer strategies at research institutions, (2) government policies for encouraging scientific research and public-private collaborations with higher public health and economic value. Further, the results will be presented to a broad audience during the I3h Institute's seminars, bringing together international academics, industrialists, policymakers, journalists and students.
Finally, the residency will allow formulating recommendations for optimal mobilization of national governments, development agencies, pharmaceutical companies, civil society and others, and optimal IP negotiations with pharmaceutical companies to support equitable access to medical care to the patients in LMICs. The recommendations for the approach of the different policy makers in establishing a clearly defined role for different stakeholders in PRND-focused PPPs will be presented and published, so that community research, philanthropy, patient advocacy and new insights in IP frameworks will lead to improved access to therapies in PRND-endemic countries.
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03.04.2017-28.04.2017
The role of public-private partnerships in the provision of equitable access to medical care to the patients in low- and middle-income countries
The analysis of pharmaceutical business models including licensing, differential pricing, advanced market commitments and the literature on PRND-focused PPPs will be discussed with experts across the healthcare spectrum. The research results will be submitted as a peer-reviewed publication in an international, scientific journal. The information gathered during the empirical study will serve as a follow-on article of the PhD research during the post-doctoral mandate of the researcher and the scientific articles that formed the base to obtain the PhD. We will also reflect further upon the appropriate role of PPPs for public health. Finally, recommendations for the approach of the different policy makers in establishing a clearly defined role for different stakeholders in PRND-focused PPPs will be presented, so that community research, philanthropy, patient advocacy and new insights in IP frameworks will lead to improved access to therapies in PRND-endemic countries.
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02.04.2015-30.04.2015
Patient Organizations in Biomedical Public-Private Partnerships
The research results will be submitted as a peer-reviewed publication in an international, scientific journal. The information gathered during the empirical study will serve as a follow-on article of the PhD research during a Post-Doctoral Mandate (PhD defense planned in December 2014) and the scientific articles that formed the base to obtain the PhD. We will also reflect further upon the appropriate role of PPPs for public health. Finally, recommendations for the approach of the different policy makers in establishing a clearly defined role for Patient Organizations in PPPs will be presented, so that community research, patient participation and new insights in personalized medicines will lead to more innovative therapies. -
02.07.2013-26.07.2013
Mapping of EU and US Precompetitive Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs)
Hilde Stevens, PhD, is senior researcher and lecturer at the I³h Institute (Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium) and holds the Chair in Translational Medicine supported by the Fund Baillet Latour. Together with Prof. Michel Goldman, Academic Director of the I³h Institute, Hilde has set up the Interdisciplinary Program in Translational Medicine. This unique program is intended to provide the next generation of healthcare providers with an insight in the interdisciplinary skills needed to shape the future of medicine, to help them understand the respective roles of the different stakeholders in healthcare, and to offer unique opportunities to interact with experts and colleagues from a wide range of disciplines and environments. The program is directed to master students, PhD students, post-doctoral fellows and professionals having an interest in healthcare (www.i3health.eu).
Hilde focuses her research on patient-centricity, collaborative innovation models, intellectual property (IP) and mechanisms governing access to medicines in the least developed countries (LDCs). Hilde particularly focuses on the governance and performance of public-private partnerships and their added value in the acceleration of innovative therapy development. It is her aim to define sound and robust bases for interdisciplinary patient-focused approaches to move collaborative innovation forward. To this end, Hilde is Education Officer in ENP Belgium, the Belgian Patient Platform, supported by EUPATI (European Patients’ Academy on Therapeutic Innovation). As Education Officer, she coordinates education activities, guarantees the quality and accuracy of the educational material as well as the independence of the provided material and activities and builds partnerships with the various stakeholders, focusing on patient education.
She holds a Master Degree in Biomedical Science (Ghent University, Belgium), a Master Degree in General Management (Vlerick Business School, Belgium), a Master Degree in Intellectual Property Law (Brussels University, Belgium) and a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Leuven (Belgium). Hilde worked as a science consultant and was a patent engineer for several years.
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