Month: July 2009

The July 20, 2009 issue of BioCentury has an extensive report on the “Biosimilar fire Drill.” It discusses in detail the lobbying by the Biotechnology Industry Association (BIO, bio.org) to defeat efforts by President Obama, OMB, the FTC, Representative Waxman, Senator Brown, AARP, Public Citizen, PIRG, Consumers Union, KEI, Essential Action, and others, to reform the regulation to biologic medicines, so there is more generic competition. Continue Reading →

Congress should reject the 12-14.5 year monopoly for biologic products provided for in HR 1548

KEI* opposes H.R.1548, the bill to “establish a pathway for the licensure of biosimilar biological products,” on the grounds that the period of the monopoly is excessive, and not subject to safeguards that would protect consumers.

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On July 14, 2009, at the WIPO Conference on Intellectual Property and Public Policy Issues, Michael Kock (Global Head IP Seeds and Biotechnology at Syngenta International AG) underscored that today’s global challenges can only dealt with in an efficient manner by creating innovation networks which included the reward of substantial amounts of money to solve technical challenges and problems.

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At the WIPO Conference on Intellectual Property and Public Policy Issues today, Margaret Chan, the Director General of the World Health Organization, made the following speech at WIPO’s Conference on Intellectual Property and Public Policy Issues on the topic of “Strengthening Multilateral Cooperation on IP and Public Health” where she shared the limelight with Pascal Lamy, Director General of the World Trade Organ Continue Reading →

On July 14, 2009, KEI, will host a brownbag on the Google Book settlement. The even will be held at the KEI Washington, DC offices, 1621 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20009. (Tel +1 202 332 2670 for directions or more information).

The speaker will be Alexander Macgillivray, the Deputy General Counsel at Google.

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*The author thanks Professor Marc Perlman (Brown University) for his comprehensive notes on the IGC deliberations.

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Note: Only a portion of the speech is reproduced here.

Hon’ble Co-Chairs/Madam Moderator, Distinguished Delegates,

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Pope Benedict XVI today issued a statement saying that “On the part of rich countries, there is excessive zeal for protecting knowledge through an unduly rigid assertion of the right to intellectual property, especially in the field of health care.” The criticism came in a section of his most recent encyclical letter dealing with social issues, and specifically focusing on international human development and systemic failures of bodies large and small to solve development problems.

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