(More on government funded inventions here. Other KEI comments on NIH licenses are found here.) In 2016, the NIH signed a CRADA with NantBioScience, a company lead by Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD. to develop “Further Develop Recombinant NK Cells and Monoclonal Antibodies as… Continue Reading
On 19 July 2017, Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) introduced an amendment at the markup in the U.S. House Appropriations Committee of the FY2018 State and Foreign Operations, Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations bill that would direct the Department of Health and Human Services to use its authority to break patent monopolies for government-funded inventions priced higher in the U.S. than seven other high-income countries.
The report of the Senate Armed Services Committee on the National Defense Authorization Act of 2018, S. 1519, published July 10, 2017, includes a directive that links exclusive patent rights to the prices of drugs, vaccines and other medical technologies that are based upon DoD-funded inventions.
The text of the directive, approved unanimously by the full Senate Armed Services Committee, is as follows:
On July 11, 2017, the German Federal Supreme Court announced that it had affirmed the decision of the Federal Patent Court last year to issue a compulsory license allowing Merck to continue selling its HIV drug, raltegravir (marketed as Isentress).
On Thursday afternoon, 6 July 2017, the 26th session of the WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP), chaired by Ms. Bucura Ionescu (Romania) reached agreement on future work on the following issues: i) Exceptions and Limitations to Patent Rights, ii) Quality of Patents, including Opposition Systems, iii) Patents and Health, iv) Confidentiality of Communications between Clients and Their Patent Advisors and v) Transfer of Technology. Continue Reading
Senator Angus King proposed an amendment to National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would require the Department of Defense (DoD) to authorize third parties to use inventions that benefited from DoD research funding, when prices exceed the median price charge in the seven largest economies with per capita incomes at least half the per capita income in the United States.
Today at WIPO, KEI hosted a side event to discuss the ability of countries to deny injunctions in patent infringement cases.
On July 4th, 2017, Andrew Goldman delivered Knowledge Ecology International’s intervention on patents at health at the 26th session of the WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP).
KEI Statement on Patents and Health
WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Patents – 26th SessionJuly 4th, 2017
Since the African Group and Development Agenda Group first tabled their proposal on a work program on patents and health in May 2011, much has happened.
On March 31st, KEI joined Prescription Justice, EFF, and Public Citizen at RightsCon 2017 to discuss the issues of sales of medication over the Internet. I was in attendance on KEI’s behalf; Gabe Levitt represented Prescription Justice; Jeremy Malcolm presented for EFF; and Burcu Kilic was there for Public Citizen. It was one of the few panels at RightsCon dedicated to medicines/health.
After the session, the panelists convened to draft an agreement on a series of overarching principles that may help guide policy and shape the conversation.
Knowledge Ecology International: Compulsory licensing of patents in the United States
DATE: Wednesday, 5 July 2017
TIME: 1 PM to 3 PM
VENUE: Room NB0.107, World Intellectual Property Organization
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) cordially invites you to attend our side event during deliberations at the Twenty-Sixth Session of Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).