New Zealand measures to prevent parallel trade in medicine from NZ to US

Wikileaks has published 28 cables, dated July 13, 2004 to February 9, 2010, from the US Embassy in Wellington, New Zealand that mention pharmaceuticals (See list here: /node/1231)

One of the cables discusses in detail the efforts of the New Zealand government to prevent pharmaceutical products that are sold in New Zealand from being parallel traded into the U.S. market. There are several interesting points made in the cable. Here are a few highlights:

Uncategorized

Wikileaks cables on the US opposition to Philippines legislation on affordable medicines

From KEI staff review of Wikileaks cables (/wikileaks)

From September 19, 2005 to January 15, 2010, the US Department of State sent dozens of cables from Manila reporting on disputes in the Philippines regarding IPR and the pricing of pharmaceutical drugs. Much of the U.S. advocacy in the Philippines was done in close cooperation with Pfizer.

Continue Reading

Uncategorized

Implementing the Jordan FTA rules on exclusive rights in regulatory test data

September 2, 2011
From KEI staff review of Wikileaks cables (/wikileaks)

On August 30, 2011, Wikileaks published a December 19, 2005 cable written by Daniel Rubinstein. The cable illustrates the degree to which the U.S. Department of State monitors the implementation of the Jordan-US FTA agreement, as regards disputes over rules on data exclusivity.

Continue Reading

Uncategorized

2008 May 14 Cable: Poland wants to cap drug cost effectiveness at 3x GDP/pop. Pfizer wants 6x

September 3, 2011 From KEI staff review of Wikileaks cables (/wikileaks) On May 14, 2008, The US Embassy in Warsaw sent a cable that discussed additions to the list of pharmaceutical products reimbursed by the government. A few highlights from… Continue Reading

The Johnson & Johnson Acuvue Compulsory License

In April of 2010, District Judge Timothy J. Corrigan (M.D Florida, Jacksonville division) declined to grant a permanent injunction following a finding that the Johnson & Johnson’s ACUVUE®OASYS contact lens product infringed patents owned by CIBA Vision Corporation, providing another example of, in effect, a judicial compulsory license following the 2006 eBay v. MercExchange case; the judge wrote:

Continue Reading

SCO loses appeal in dispute with Novell over copyright claims to code used in Linux operating system

As reported by Groklaw, SCO has lost an appeal, at the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a dispute with Novell “over copyright ownership of early versions of the UNIX operating system and the scope of Novell’s rights in licenses issued to its former customers prior to its partial sale of UNIX to SCO.” According to Groklaw, this is likely to be the end of the litigation with Novell over SCO’s claims to ownership of code used in Linux. (The IBM case is still outstanding, it seems).

Continue Reading

Uncategorized

Wikileaks cables shows Obama Administration role in lobbying EU to approve Oracle acquisition of MySQL and other Sun assets

Two cables recently disclosed by Wikileaks illustrate the degree to which the Obama Administration was monitoring the EU review of the Oracle acquisition of Sun, and leaning on the European Union to permit Oracle to acquire MySQL and other “open source” assets controlled by Sun.

Both cables were signed by Ambassador Christopher W. Murray, who served as Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’Affaires at the United States Mission to the European Union, in Brussels, Belgium, from 2007 to 2010.

Continue Reading

Uncategorized