Contrast in privilege: US officials working to block WTO LDC drug patent waiver, and people affected by policy
On the left, the people in the Obama Administration trying to block a permanent waiver of WTO drug patent obligations for Least Developed Countries (as defined by the UN). On the right, some people living in least developed countries.
 Ambassador Michael Forman. Head of USTR. Alma maters: Princeton, Oxford and Harvard Law. Formerly ran a hedge fund for Citibank. Continue Reading Senator Sherrod Brown letter to USTR, supporting permanent waiver of WTO drug patent rules for LDCsAttached is a letter, dated October 14, 2015, from Senator Sherrod Brown to USTR’s Ambassador Michael Froman, urging USTR to support a permanent waiver of WTO drug patent rules, for Least Developed Countries. Negotiations on this issue begin formally on October 15, 2015, during a meeting of the WTO TRIPS Council. Among the money quotes: Video: Coalition for Affordable T-DM1 Crown Use Request (in UK, for patents on cancer drug Kadcyla)This is a video explaining the request by the Coalition for Affordable T-DM1 to use the Crown Use provisions in the UK patents law, in order to grant compulsory licences on the patents relating to the cancer drug T-DM1, marketed by Roche under the brand name Kadcyla. The video was produced and edited by Zack Struver for KEI, and features narration by Merith Basey from UAEM. FDA enforcement discretion to allow unregistered generic Daraprim to be imported and sold at lower pricesIn 2011, the FDA told the NIH it could use enforcement discretion to permit importation and sale of unregistered drugs In 2011, in the context of a shortage of Fabrazyme, the FDA told the NIH if they could “in theory” allow Shire to import and sell Replagal, a drug approved for sale in Europe, but not in the United States, as an unregistered biologic substitute. The remedy explored for the Fabrazyme shortage may be the best way to address a different problem, the price gouging associated with the drug Daraprim (generic name: pyrimethamine). Statement of KEI on announcement of consensus on Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreementStatement of KEI on announcement that there is a consensus on the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement These comments by James Love, KEI Director Press Release: Coalition for Affordable T-DM1 Asks UK Government to grant compulsory licenses on Roche breast cancer drugPress Release: Coalition for Affordable T-DM1 Asks the UK Government to Employ Crown Use Authority to Lower Price of Expensive Cancer Drug sold by Roche CONTACT: Diarmaid McDonald Susannah Markandya Zack Struver USTR releases documents from 2012 R&D treaty negotiationsOn September 28, 2012, nearly three years ago, KEI submitted a FOIA request to USTR for “all documents relating to the World Health Organization (WHO) consideration of an agreement or treaty to support medical R&D.” Three years later USTR has released 89 pages of documents, with some redactions. But USTR also withheld 64 documents pursuant to FOIA exemption 552(b)(5) and three documents pursuant to FOIA exemption 552(b)(1). Senator Bernie Sanders proposal to expand Veterans access to patented medical inventions
This is a video by Zack Struver about Senator Bernie Sander’s proposal to expand Veterans access to patented medical inventions. The video discusses both the proposal by Senator Sanders to give the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs the authority to… Continue Reading USTR provides the names of the TPP Chapters (as of September 10, 2015)On June 4, 2015, KEI asked USTR to provide the names of the TPP Chapters. The contents of the chapters are all officially secret, but we thought the names of the chapters should be public, and made a request for the chapter names under the Freedom of Information Act (FIOA). Today, more than 3 months later, USTR has responded to that FOIA. According to USTR, as of September 10, 2015, the names of the TPP Chapters are as follows:
KEI TPP Briefing Note: Conflicts with US legal norms and TPP provisions on IP remedies for infringementKEI TPP Briefing Note: Conflicts with US legal norms and TPP Article QQ.H.4: {Civil Procedures and Remedies / Civil and Administrative Procedures and Remedies} (*based upon May 11, 2015 TPP negotiating text. |