Glossary

	Legend: terms defined elsewhere are in bold, hyperlinks are underlined in blue
	Key terms and concepts
	Medical terms
	Governmental and intergovernmental agencies
	Laws and treaties
	Non-governmental organizations
	UAEM-related terms

	Term	Definition
	ACCT	See Alliance for the Commercialization of Canadian Technology.
	Access	A person’s ability to consistently obtain, and appropriately use, good quality health technologies when they are needed.
	Access Metrics Initiative (AMI)	UAEM project advocating that universities’ research metrics be defined by impact on human welfare, rather than revenue.
	Access to Essential Medicines Campaign	Started by MSF in 1999 to improve access and stimulate development on medical tools (medicines, diagnostics, vaccines) needed in the developing world.
	Acquired ImmunoDeficiency Syndrome (AIDS)	The most advanced stage of HIV infection, defined by the occurrence of a variety of opportunistic infections. In 2007, 2.1 million people died of AIDS, mainly in sub Saharan Africa.
	Advocacy	The deliberate process of supporting an idea or cause on behalf of another group, idea or person in order to influence outcomes.
	AIDS	See Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
	Alliance for the Commercialization of Canadian Technology (ACCT)	Canadian technology transfer organization.
	American Medical Students Association (AMSA)	An independent organization that advocates on behalf of American medical students.
	AMI	See Access Metrics Initiative.
	AMSA	See American Medical Students Association.
	Antiretroviral (ARV)	Medications used to treat retroviruses such as HIV.
	ARV	See Antiretroviral.
	Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM)	North American organization of technology transfer professionals.
	AUTM	See Association of University Technology Managers Note: also pronounced “autumn”.
	Bayh-Dole Act	Act: 35 U.S.C. §§ 200-211 that gives universities the exclusive rights to the outcomes of the publicly funded research that they conduct.
	Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF/'Gates')	Private philanthropic foundation, that funds global health research with a focus on neglected diseases.
	BMGF	See Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
	CAMR	See Canada’s Access to Medicines Regime.
	Canada’s Access to Medicines Regime (CAMR)	Canadian legislation implementing the August 30 2003 decision of the WTO, which allows countries to export versions of patented medicines to countries with no manufacturing capacity of their own. Formerly known as the Jean Chrétien Pledge to Africa Act (JCPA).
	Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR)	Health research funding agencies of the Canadian government.
	Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)	Canadian government’s international development funding agency.
	CC	See Coordinating Committee.
	CFMS	See Canadian Federation of Medical Students.
	Chagas disease	A neglected vector-borne disease, common in rural areas of Latin America, caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. Chagas affects approximately 10 million people.
	CIDA	See Canadian International Development Agency.
	CIHR	See Canadian Institutes for Health Research.
	Canadian Federation of Medical Students (CFMS)	Organization that represents Canadian medical students.
	Coordinating committee (CC)	Coordinating body at UAEM.
	Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi)	Partnership between the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation from Brazil, the Indian Council for Medical Research, the Kenya Medical Research Institute, the Ministry of Health of Malaysia and France’s Pasteur Institute, MSF, and UNDP/World Bank/WHO’s Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases to support and facilitate development of drugs for neglected diseases.
	DNDi	See Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative.
	EAL	See Equitable Access License.
	Equitable Access License (EAL)	Example global access license developed by a UAEM member and formerly advocated by UAEM. See also Global Access Licensing Framework.
	Essential medicines	The drugs and vaccines that the World Health Organization recommends as being crucial components of a basic health care system.
	GALF	See Global Access Licensing Framework.
	Gates	See Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
	Generic	A drug or product that is sold without a brand name. Generic drugs are identified by their chemical names.
	GHRI	See Global Health Research Initiative.
	Global Access Licensing Framework (GALF)	Policy currently advocated by UAEM that seeks to ensure that every relevant medicine or technology that is discovered at a university is licensed as part of an effective and transparent strategy to make affordable versions accessible to those in need. Replaces the Equitable Access License.
	Global Health Research Initiative (GHRI)	Partnership between Health Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the International Development Research Centre, the Canadian International Development Agency, and the Public Health Agency of Canada to strengthen Canada’s role in global health research.
	HIV	See Human Immunodeficiency Virus.
	Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)	Virus that results in progressive deterioration of the immune system and can lead to AIDS. According to estimates by WHO and UNAIDS, in 2007 there were 33.2 million people living with HIV and 2.5 million new infections.
	IDRC	See International Development Research Council
	IGWG	See Intergovernmental Working Group on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property
	Intellectual property (IP)	A form of creative endeavour that can be protected through a patent, trade-mark, copyright, industrial design or integrated circuit topography.
	Intellectual property rights	Legal property rights concerning all creative endeavours. Intellectual property rights grant exclusive control over intangible assets.
	Intergovernmental Working Group on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property (IGWG)	WHO body with a mandate to develop a strategy for global public health, innovation and intellectual property that would seek to resolve conditions that disproportionately affect developing countries.
	International Development Research Council (IDRC)	Canadian government’s agency for international development research.
	IP	See Intellectual property.
	JCPA	See Canada’s Access to Medicines Regime.
	Jean Chrétien Pledge to Africa Act (JCPA)	See Canada’s Access to Medicines Regime.
	KEI	See Knowledge Ecology International.
	Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)	Organization that seeks to improve the accessibility and use of available knowledge. KEI advocates, undertakes and publishes research of public health interest.
	Leishmaniasis	Neglected parasitic disease that is found in parts of the tropics, subtropics and southern Europe. It is caused by the parasites Leishmania spp. and spread by the sand fly. Also known as kala azar or black fever.
	License	A contract between the owner of a patent, and one or more parties that seek the right to make, use, sell, or import the patented technology, to transfer or share those rights under specific conditions.
	LMIC	Low- and middle-income countries, as defined by the World Bank.
	Low-income country	As defined by the World Bank, a country whose annual per-capita income is $935 or less.
	Malaria	A vector-borne infectious disease common to tropical and subtropical areas, caused by the parasites Plasmodium spp. and spread by the Anopheles mosquito. Malaria is both preventable and treatable, yet in 2006 the WHO states that there were 247 million cases causing 880 000 deaths.
	Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)	Private, independent, non- profit, international medical humanitarian aid organization. Also known as Doctors Without Borders in the USA. See also Access to Essential Medicine Campaign.
	Metric	The indicators used by universities and organizations to measure their success. See also Access Metrics Initiative.
	Middle-income country	As defined by the World Bank, a country whose annual per-capita income is between $936 and $11,455.
	MSF	See Médecins Sans Frontières.
	National Institutes of Health (NIH)	American federal agency for conducting and funding of medical research.
	ND	See Neglected Diseases.
	Neglected Diseases (NDs)	A group of infections common to poor, tropical and sub tropical areas that includes leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, African trypanosomiasis, Buruli ulcer, dengue fever, guinea worm, leprosy, schistosomiasis, trachoma, and others. WHO estimates that 1 billion people suffer from at least one neglected disease, most of whom are unable to afford treatment. Consequently, the amount of research being conducted on these diseases is disproportionately small, given the burden they impose.
	NIH	See National Institutes of Health.
	NGO	Non-governmental organization.
	NTD	Neglected tropical disease. See Neglected Diseases.
	Open access	In publishing, refers to any material that is freely available for reading and use.
	Patent	Document granting an inventor sole rights to an invention for a fixed period of time. Patents can regulate ownership, use, manufacturing, purchasing of the product, as well as prevent others from the above uses without being granted a license.
	Patent pool	An agreement between a group of companies whereby each member agrees to grant all the other member companies license to their patents.
	PCS	See Philadelphia Consensus Statement.
	Philadelphia Consensus Statement (PCS)	UAEM’s statement of principles, adopted at UAEM’s 2006 conference in Philadelphia.
	PDP	See Product Development Partnership.
	PLoS	See Public Library of Science.
	Prize fund	A fund created to stimulate research and development of new medicines, that would reward researchers for medical innovations based on the positive impacts of their inventions on health care outcomes.
	Product development partnership (PDP)	A collaboration between multiple organizations, usually including industry and non-industry (e.g. governments, charities, NGO's), to develop a new drug or other product. Most development of new ND treatments is currently by PDP's.
	Public Library of Science (PLoS)	Publisher of open-access science journals.
	Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR)	UNICEF-UNDP-World Bank-WHO scientific programme to coordinate and support ND research efforts.
	Senior research officer (SRO)	The member of a university administration charged with overseeing research activities.
	SRO	See Senior Research Officer.
	TB	See Tuberculosis.
	TDR	See Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases.
	Technology transfer	The transfer of research findings or intellectual property rights from a university to another party, for the purposes of product development and manufacturing. See also license.
	Technology transfer office (TTO)	Office that manages the intellectual property rights of a university, including licensing new technologies to industry. See also license and technology transfer.
	Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property rightS agreement (TRIPS)	International trade agreement that sets out minimum standards for intellectual property rights protection laws.
	Translational research	Research on how to translate medical and scientific discoveries into practical applications.
	TRIPS	See Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property rightS agreement.
	TTO	See technology transfer office.
	Tuberculosis (TB)	Airborne infectious disease that primarily affects the lungs. The disease is easily spread amongst people living in close quarters. One third of the world’s population is infected with TB and almost 2 million people die of TB annually. Treatment of TB can be difficult as it must be sustained for a six month period. Consequently, antibiotic resistance due to incomplete treatment is a growing problem.
	UAEM	See Universities Allied for Essential Medicines. Also pronounced “U-aim”.
	UN	See United Nations.
	UNAIDS	The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, which has the objective of strengthening and supporting the response to HIV/AIDS, including prevention, treatment, making individuals and communities less vulnerable to HIV and alleviating the impact of the epidemic.
	United Nations (UN)	International organization with a stated mandate to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights and achievement of world peace.
	UNITAID	International drug purchasing facility, establishes long term financing for drugs and tests for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, in turn facilitating access to them. The organization's principal strength is the negotiation of low prices for drugs.
	Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM)	Student-based organization with the following objectives: - To determine how universities can help ensure that biomedical end products, such as drugs, are made more accessible in poor countries. - To increase the amount of research conducted on neglected diseases, or those diseases predominantly affecting people who are too poor to constitute a market attractive to private-sector R&D investment.
	World Bank	An international bank, owned by 185 member countries, that provides loans and grants to developing countries.
	WHO	See World Health Organization.
	World Health Organization (WHO)	United Nations public health body.
	World Trade Organization (WTO)	International organization designed to “supervise and liberalize international trade”. The WTO negotiates and implements trade agreements, and supervises member countries adherence to their agreements, including the Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property rightS agreement.
	WTO	See World Trade Organization.

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