(More on government funded inventions here. Other KEI comments on NIH licenses are found here.) On April 22nd, 2016 the NIH posted a notice on the Federal Register stating it is contemplating the grant of an exclusive license to Dedalus… Continue Reading
Today the Department of Health and Human Services held their annual WHA listening session. This year HHS sent an email the day prior announcing that the usual 3 minute allotment would be cut in half to 90 seconds. This decision caused several NGOs to not attend.
Astellas has claimed that patients taking Xtandi face very small co-payments. One patient living in Arizona contacted KEI with proof that Astellas’ claims just aren’t true. The patient, who is on Medicare, provided a copy of a summary of his expenses for the first quarter of of 2016.
His monthly patient co-payment is $441.97 a month.
(More on government funded inventions here. Other KEI comments on NIH licenses are found here.) May 4, 2016 Betty Tong, Ph.D. Senior Licensing and Patenting Manager Technology Advancement Office National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases 12A South… Continue Reading
Other KEI comments on NIH licenses are found here: /nih-licenses
In response to a February request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for documents related to the grant of an exclusive patent license on a HER2+ breast cancer treatment technology, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) withheld in full all responsive records.
On Monday, 2 May 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) convened the 2016 open-ended member states meeting of the Consultative Expert Working Group on Research and Development: Financing and Coordination (CEWG). The 2016 CEWG is chaired by Bhanu Pratap Sharma, Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. The Vice-Chair is Tania Dussey- Cavassini, Vice-Director General, Ambassador for Global Health, Federal Office of Public Health, Switzerland.
On April 26, 2016, Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) delivered the keynote address at a panel discussion on drug pricing at the Center for American Progress, where he addressed the Federal government’s role in subsidizing drug development, ensuring affordable access at reasonable prices for U.S. citizens, industry practices related to monopoly pricing, and legislative solutions to promote rational and affordable drug prices.
The number of patents filed by China has accelerated over the last 15 years. According to WIPO, China represented just 1 percent of the fillings with the PCT in 2000. By 2015, China’s share of PCT filing was 13.7 percent. We were interested to see how this increase in patent fillings related to China’s growth in GDP.
On April 22, 2016, the President of Biolyse Pharma — a Canadian pharmaceutical company that specializes in the manufacture of oncology drugs — offered to supply the prostate cancer drug enzalutamide (Xtandi) to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for $3 per pill ($12 per day; $4,383 per year). The Biolyse price for enzalutamide is 4-percent of the 2014 Medicare price, $69.41 ($277.64 per day; $101,408.01 per year), and lower than any other price in the world.
The 2016 USTR Special 301 report is now available. (copy here). The report is 77 pages of complaints about intellectual property policies around the world, plus a number of other complaints, including those related to pricing and reimbursement of pharmaceutical drugs and medical devices, restrictions on data flows, standard setting, and government procurement.
On the one hand, USTR says it is supports “access to medicine for all.”