General Statements by Regional Groups regarding the Agenda of SCCR 34
GRULAC:
We remember the important work of the previous chair and vice chairs. We would like to thank the Secretariat for preparation and organization of this session and also for publication of the documents for our consideration.
WIPO SCCR 34 May 1, 2017 Day 1: Agenda and Election of New Chair and Vice Chairs
The DG, Franci Gurry, started the SCCR meeting with a summary of the issues to be discussed, some old (Broadcasting treaty, Limitations and Exceptions for libraries, archives, museum and education and for people with other disabilities) some new or “exploratory” (GRULAC proposal on copyright and digital works and resale rights):
DIRECTOR GENERAL: […]
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How Sanofi Prices Its MS Drug Aubagio (Teriflunomide) in the U.S. and Five Reference Countries
The U.S. Army recently rejected requests by public interest groups, Senator Bernie Sanders, and almost a dozen House Democrats to refuse to grant Sanofi an exclusive license on patents on a Zika virus vaccine, or, alternatively, to ensure that the license included terms assuring that U.S. taxpayers would not pay a higher price than other high-income countries. Specifically, KEI proposed the following terms to be included in the contract:
Sanofi fines for fraud, kickbacks, etc
April 3, 2017. Sanofi agreed to pay $19.9 million to resolve allegations under the False Claims Act that the company overcharged the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for drugs under two contracts between 2002 and 2011. According to the DOJ press release:
KEI Statement on House Letter to President Trump on the Protection of Taxpayers’ Rights in Federally-Funded Inventions
4 APRIL 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Zack Struver, zack.struver@keionline.org or +1 (202) 332-2670
In a letter sent today, Representative Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, and 50 other democratic members of Congress requested that President Donald J. Trump issue guidance for the use of Bayh-Dole Act march-in rights in order to protect taxpayer’s rights in federally-funded patented inventions.
The following statement should be attributed to James Love, Director of Knowledge Ecology International (KEI):
“The letter from members of Congress on the need to protect taxpayer’s rights in the inventions they fund is important, timely, and directly related to the challenge of providing affordable health care to everyone. Federally-funded inventions are now routinely placed on the market at extremely high prices. Astellas charges more than $350 per day for the prostate cancer drug Xtandi, and BioGen is charging $1.125 million for the first two years of Spinraza, which is used to treat spinal muscular atrophy in mostly young children. The notion that the federal government will not engage on the pricing of these products runs counter to the explicit provisions in the Bayh-Dole Act that require inventions be made ‘available to the public on reasonable terms.’ The President can curb high prices for these drugs without new legislation, and without putting patients at risk.”
KEI filed the most recent march-in request with the federal government on the prostate cancer drug Xtandi.
The letter is available as a PDF here and below in plain text.
Representative Doggett’s office issued the following press release: https://doggett.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressional-democrats-trump-we-re-calling-your-hand-lower-prescription
KEI statement: 21st meeting of the WHO Expert Committee on the Selection and Use of Essential Medicines
On Monday, 27 March 2017, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) delivered the following oral statement to the Open Session of the 21st Meeting of the WHO Expert Committee on the Selection and Use of Essential Medicines. The program for the open session can be found here.
Maryland House of Delegates passes bill on prescription drug price gouging by vote of 137 to 4
On March 20, 2017, the Maryland House of Delegates approved a prescription drug price gouging bill by a vote of 137-4. A copy of the bill, as it passed the House, is attached.
This is a March 20, 2017 Report by Erin Cox, published in the Baltimore Sun:
Maryland’s attorney general could sue drug companies for price gouging under a bill approved by the House of Delegates Monday.
Patients, Members of Congress Ask Chilean Government to Issue Compulsory Licenses on Prostate Cancer and HCV Drug Patents
21 MARCH 2017
PRESS ADVISORY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Zack Struver, zack.struver@keionline.org, +1 (202) 332-2670 (office) / +1 (914) 582-1428 (cell)
Luis Villarroel, info@innovarte.cl, +56 9 9827 9673
Santiago, Chile — Members of the Chilean Congress and a group of 6 patients visited the Chilean Ministry of Health yesterday to ask that the government use its authority under Chilean law to end patent monopolies on the prostate cancer drug enzalutamide (U.S. brand name Xtandi) and on sofosbuvir-based combination drugs for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV).
The patients and members submitted a petition that outlined the legal authority and public policy rationale for the grant of compulsory licenses on the patents for the drugs described in the petition. Those compulsory licenses would allow prescription drug manufacturers to produce affordable generic versions of the drugs, subject to a reasonable royalty.
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KEI Testifies in Maryland on Drug R&D Cost Transparency Bill (HB666/SB437)
James Love and Andrew Goldman represented KEI on March 16, 2017, in a working group meeting of a subcommittee of the Maryland General Assembly House of Delegates Health & Government Operations Committee, where they testified on HB666/SB437, a bill that would establish transparency of R&D costs for prescription drugs sold in Maryland.
Vincent DeMarco of at Health Care for All! and Dr. Reshma Ramachandran of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health also testified at the hearing.
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8 March 2017 – Statement of Portugal – HRC 34 – Panel on Access to Medicines
On 8 March 2017, the Permanent Representative of Portugal, Ambassador Pedro Nuno Bártolo, made a powerful intervention at the Human Rights Council’s panel discussion on access to medicines. Portugal stressed that access to medicines is a fundamental element of the right to health and highlighted how the high prices of hepatitis C and cancer medicines made them unaffordable to large segments of the population in industrialized countries. Continue Reading