Author: Andrew Goldman

The dearth of recent compulsory licenses out of India has led to speculation that the Government has made an agreement not to issue such licenses.

On reviewing submissions for the Office of the United States Trade Representative’s upcoming 2016 Special 301 Review, several industry documents confirm that such an agreement exists.

The submission by the United States Chamber of Commerce’s Global Intellectual Property Center states:

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On Tuesday October 20, 2015, Representative Anna Eshoo (D-CA), one of the principal authors of the Biologic Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA), sent a letter to the United States Trade Representative requesting timely clarification regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership’s impact “on existing U.S. laws that limit damages for infringement of intellectual property (IP) rights, and on the potential ISDS ramifications for those conflicts.”

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October 2, 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Zack Struver
+1 (202) 332-2670
zack.struver@keionline.org

Seven House Members Push U.S. Trade Representative to Support Indefinite Waiver on Pharmaceutical Patents for Least Developed Countries (LDCs)

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For any of you in Bucharest this weekend at the EASL conference on liver disease, KEI Europe will host a side event on access to affordable HCV medicines on Saturday morning.

Pathways to Widespread Access: Affordable HCV Medicines in Romania
Date: 10:00-12:00 Saturday, 30 May 2015
Venue: Novotel Bucharest City Centre, Conference Room Lyon (Mezzanine Floor)

A Panel Discussion:

Peter Beyer, World Health Organization (WHO). Access to Medicines and Intellectual Property Rights
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Yesterday, under intense pressure from the powerful pharmaceutical industry lobby, California Assembly Member Dan Chiu withheld bill AB 463, the Pharmaceutical Cost Transparency Act of 2015. A vote on the bill had already been postponed for a week in order to allow Assembly Member Chiu more time to address various concerns raised by colleagues in the Health Committee. Continue Reading →

In addition to the numerous groups and institutions that stood in support of AB 463 (Pharmaceutical Cost Transparency Act of 2015) at the California Assembly Health Committee hearing on April 21st, six civil society groups that we are aware of have submitted letters or statements in support of the bill.

In alphabetical order, these include:

1. American Medical Students Association (AMSA)
2. National Council of Asian Pacific Islander Physicians (NCAPIP)
3. National Physicians Alliance (NPA)
4. Public Citizen
5. Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM)
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Yesterday (April 21,2015) the California Assembly held a Health Committee hearing to discuss various bills being offered, including Assembly Member Dan Chiu’s AB 463, titled the Pharmaceutical Cost Transparency Act of 2015.

AB 463 calls for the pharmaceutical industry to annually report its costs for developing and manufacturing a drug (for any course of treatment over $10k). The bill seeks to provide audited information on R&D costs, a topic for which the industry often makes unsupported and exaggerated claims.

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On February 24, 2015, the USTR convened the Special 301 Review, taking testimony almost exclusively from witnesses representing large corporate rights holders. Over the course of the three-and-a-half hour hearing, groups such as Phrma, NAM, IPO, and the misleadingly-named Alliance for Fair Trade with India (an alliance comprised of groups such as Phrma, NAM, MPAA and many other similar groups) as well as foreign-owned multinational Bridgestone, pushed for the watch-listing of countries that fail to implement TRIPS+ measures. Continue Reading →