In a hearing before the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Health, Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health, explained the agency’s position on the Bayh-Dole rights and high drug prices. In the hearing, focused on the… Continue Reading
Meeting: EB Special session on the draft Thirteenth General Programme of Work Agenda Item: 3. Draft Thirteenth General Programme of Work Statement: KEI welcomes the opportunity to comment on the 13th General Programme of Work anchored upon WHO’s vision of… Continue Reading
(More on government funded inventions here. Other KEI comments on NIH licenses are found here.) Background: The National Institutes of Health has proposed giving an exclusive license for multiple Zika vaccine candidates to PaxVax, a company with close ties to the federal… Continue Reading
Statement by James Love, KEI Director, on GOP proposal to eliminate the Orphan Drug Tax Credit.
The GOP proposal to eliminate the Orphan Drug Tax Credit may create a new opportunity to reform the incentives for rare diseases, even if the tax bill fails or the tax credit survives. The GOP tax bill shows there is weaker support for the existing regime than many thought.
On Friday, 20 October 2017, India delivered the following intervention on compulsory licensing. India briefly recounted the experiences of Brazil, South Africa, and Thailand in using compulsory licensing to secure access to ARVs.
On October 17, 2017, KEI sent a letter to the NIH regarding the failure of the University of Pennsylvania to disclose federal funding of five patented inventions for CAR T.
Today (October 18, 2017), we received this statement from the University:
“We have reviewed the letter and have confirmed that each of these patents was reported to the government as having NIH funding.
On October 13, 2017, KEI submitted comments to the WHO regarding the Draft Concept Note towards the WHO’s 13th General Programme of Work. The Draft Concept Note is available here: http://www.who.int/about/draft-concept-note_13th-programme-work.pdf
The text of KEI’s comments follow below, and a PDF is available here.
Friday, 13 October 2017
Dear Dr. Tedros,
The biologic drug, Humira (adalimumab) is currently the best selling drug in the world, with revenues of more than $16 billion in 2016, and $4.7 billion in the 2nd quarter of 2017 ($52 million per day). 
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On Wednesday, 4 October 2017, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) delivered the following statement at the WIPO General Assembly during discussions on the Report of the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP).
WIPO General Assembly 2017 – Statement of KEI on the Report on the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP)
4 October 2017
Agenda item: 14. Report on the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP)