USTR just sent out the schedule for the Special 301 hearing on March 8, 2018. 21 trade associations, civil society NGOs and academies will testify. Everyone is given 10 minutes, including questions, but persons testifying can provide additional materials to… Continue Reading
On Tuesday, 27 February 2018, the representative of the Republic of South Africa delivered the following statement at the World Trade Organization’s TRIPS Council; South Africa delivered this statement under the agenda item on IP and the Public Interest: Regulatory… Continue Reading
KEI has appealed the NIH/NCI decision to proceed with the proposed exclusive license of anti-CD30 CAR T to Gilead, following an email of January 25, 2018 from Dr. David Lambertson of NCI rejecting all of KEI’s substantive suggestions and objections. KEI… Continue Reading
On Tuesday February 20, 2018, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission approved the Celgene acquisition of Juno, without requiring divestitures. The European Commission did not review the merger. KEI’s February 16, 2018 letter opposing the acquisition is available here. The following… Continue Reading
Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA-17) was joined by 17 other members of Congress in calling upon Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to issue a compulsory license on patents for medications to treat hepatitis C, by exercising 28… Continue Reading
The October 2017 meeting of the WTO TRIPS Council witnessed heated discussions on compulsory licensing within the context of IP and the Public Interest. As reported earlier by Knowledge Ecology International, on 31 May 2017, Brazil, China, Fiji, India, and… Continue Reading
On February 14, 2018, KEI meet with the FTC to express our opposition to Celgene’s proposed acquisition of Juno Therapeutics. Celgene-Juno-KEI-FTC16Feb2018 The Celgene acquisition of Juno Therapeutics would give Celgene control over competing candidates for the treatment of multiple myeloma… Continue Reading
On February 14, the NIH was asked what the budget was for the Phase 1 clinical trial of the anti-CD30 CAR T technology that is the subject of a proposed exclusive patent license to Kite/Gilead. The clinicaltrials.gov identifier for the… Continue Reading
PhRMA and BIO have both requested that the US Trade Representative place the European Union on its watch list in the 2018 Special 301 Report. The Special 301 Report is a yearly review by the US Trade Representative of the… Continue Reading
In its 2018 Special 301 submission, PhRMA targets a number of countries for pricing and reimbursement policies deemed hostile to the pharmaceutical industry. Among these, PhRMA strategically lobbies for the strongest classifications for Canada and Korea — countries dealing with… Continue Reading