Knowledge Ecology International

(Following discussions with Ed Silverman of Pharmalot, this blog was updated at 12 pm on March 22, to add some suggestions as to how to reform the Orphan Drug Act).

This note concerns an increase in the price of hydroxyprogesterone caproate, from $10 to $20 per dose to $1,500 per dose. (Several injections are needed). Long used off label to prevent premature births, the drug will be sold by KV Pharmaceuticals, under a newly granted right under a statutory monopoly, at 150 times the price of the generic product using the trade name Makena.

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April 2011 ushers in a busy period for the World Health Organization. Continue Reading →

Francisco SOSA WAGNER, a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Spain, has submitted a question to the European Commission on the WIPO negotiations for a treaty for persons who are blind or have other disabilities.

David Hammerstein has provided the following translation into English:
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The recently obtained US draft text for the intellectual property rights chapter for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) contains provisions that go far beyond the requirements of international agreements as well as the standards of US law itself. One particular area of concern involves the broad definition of patent eligible subject matter that fails to provide for any exception from patentability for surgical methods or procedures. Nor does the draft language contain any exception for the enforcement of surgical method patents. Continue Reading →

The USPTO is considering a pilot program to consider the benefits of providing a voucher for certain accelerated reviews of patent applications, as a reward for licensing patents for humanitarian uses. On March 2, 2011, Anne Guha provided a very useful summary of public comments on the proposal, which is available here: https://www.keionline.org/node/1074

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David Hammerstein is a former Member of the European Parliament from Spain. He now works for the Trans-Atlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD). Among other things, he is an advocate for a new WIPO copyright treaty for persons who are blind or have other disabilities. The following is an interview with David, carried out from March 3 to March 6 by email.

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