This Wednesday 21 May 2014, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI), Civil Society Coalition, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), Oxfam, Health Action International (HAI) and Treatment Action Group (TAG) will host a side event at the WHA on, “Innovation and Access to Medicines and Vaccines: Emerging Challenges and Opportunities for Middle-Income Countries.”
At the opening of the 67th World Health Assembly, today the Young Professionals Chronic Disease Network (YP-CDN), Knowledge Ecology International (KEI), and Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) released a briefing, “Cancer medicines are essential in reducing the global burden of non-communicable diseases.”
Informed sources have revealed that Mark Dybul, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, is the brains behind an initiative to create global framework for the tiered pricing or in the Global Fund’s own words, “Equitable Access to Essential Medicines and Vaccines: Developing a Framework for Success”, enforced by the rules of the World Trade Organization. KEI has obtained this internal concept note prepared by the Global Fund which we understand is a work in progress.
Among the comments that KEI filed today in the 2014 Special 301 Review process were comments regarding pharmaceutical companies’ donation and patient assistance programs. An oft-cited claim by pharmaceutical companies and those lobbying on their behalf is that donations and patient assistance programs fully provide for those that cannot afford the high priced medications offered by the companies. Continue Reading
On January 21, 2014, Ketaki Gokhale of Bloomberg published a story in Businessweek on disputes over drug patents. The story closed with a rather sinister quote attributed to Bayer CEO Marijn Dekkers, “We did not develop this medicine for Indians. Continue Reading
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| Bayer CEO Marijn Dekkers called the Nexavar compulsory license “essentially theft.” |
[UPDATE: The latest blog and transcript of Bayer CEO Marijn Dekkers’ full quote on the Indian compulsory license of Nexavar at the December Financial Times event is now available.]
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) will host a “Conference on Open Innovation: Collaborative Projects and the Future of Knowledge” on 22-23 January 2014 at its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
The origins of this conference on open collaborative development models is predicated upon Recommendation 36 of the WIPO Development Agenda which states:
In a 6 December 2013 letter, Representative Henry Waxman wrote to USTR Ambassador Michael Froman opposing USTR’s proposal of a term of 12 years of exclusivity for biologics in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). The letter notes,
[w]hile I have worked closely with Senator Hatch on important health issues, including the generic drug law that we co-authored in 1984, I strongly disagreed that the United States should be proposing twelve years of exclusivity.
On 18 December 2012 and 20 December 2012, the World Trade Organization (WTO) undertook a trade policy review of the United States of America. All members of the WTO are subject to review under the Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM). The questions raised by WTO Members during the US TPR touched upon on compulsory licensing (including cases of judicial compulsory licensing following eBay v. MercExchange), copyright (Golan v. Holder), the Special 301 report and the Medicines Patent Pool. On 30 April 2013, the WTO released the records of the meeting including WT/TPR/M/275. Continue Reading
On January 16, the India Intellectual Property Appeals Board (IPAB) began a hearing on the merits of Bayer’s appeal of India’s first compulsory license.
The outcome of this trial, which focuses on the cancer drug Nexavar, is a matter of first impression for the IPAB, and is expected to set precedents on a wide range of issues, including the permissible grounds for granting compulsory licenses, the relationship between the India patent law and the TRIPS Agreement, and the setting of terms and conditions for the compulsory license, including the royalty rates.