KEI receives seven new contracts for COVID 19 research from BARDA and DOD, including five using “Other Transactions Authority” that weaken or eliminate Bayh-Dole and FAR Safeguards

KEI has a number of outstanding requests under the United States Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for contracts related to biomedical innovations to control or treat the COVID-19 pandemic. On Thursday, June 25, and Friday, June 26, we received a… Continue Reading

Senate Foreign Relations Committee questions State Department, USAID, and HHS on COVID-19 and U.S. International Pandemic Preparedness, Prevention, and Response

On Thursday, 18 June 2020, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee convened a hearing on COVID-19 and U.S. International Pandemic Preparedness, Prevention, and Response. The witnesses called to provide testimony included: 1) James L. Richardson, Director, Office of Foreign Assistance, U.S.… Continue Reading

EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan issues statement on European Union compulsory licensing in context of COVID-19, makes important statement about TRIPS Article 31bis

On 14 May 2020, Bernd Lange, Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade (INTA) wrote a letter to Phil Hogan (Commissioner for Trade, European Commission) on the “commercial aspects of intellectual property rights for medical products in the… Continue Reading

Patents related to PX-UV, an R2-D2 look-alike robot that may disinfect public spaces from SARS-CoV-2

Texas-based company Xenex Disinfection Services, a manufacturer of robots that reportedly removes the SARS-CoV-2 virus from public spaces, has been making news lately. One of their robots, which uses ultraviolet lights to kill viruses and bacteria in surfaces and look… Continue Reading

14 May 2020 – The WHO Covid-19 Technology Pool: The solution to ensure global access to Covid-19 health technologies

Livestream here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNMpuQfH088 On 14 May 2020, Health Action International, Knowledge Ecology International, Medicines Law & Policy, Pharmaceutical Accountability Foundation, and Wemos will convene a briefing entitled: “The WHO Covid-19 Technology Pool: The solution to ensure global access to Covid-19… Continue Reading

KEI Comments on NIH Exclusive License to Kriya Therapeutics for Diabetes and Obesity Treatment

On Tuesday April 28, 2020, KEI submitted comments to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) regarding the “Prospective Grant of an Exclusive Patent License: AAV Mediated Exendin-4 Gene Transfer to Salivary Glands To Protect Subjects From Diabetes or Obesity” (85… Continue Reading