KEI has asked the DHHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) to investigate a failure to disclose federal funding of patents on nusinersen, a drug developed by Ionis Pharmaceuticals (formerly known as Isis Pharmacetuicals) with BioGen, and sold under the trade name Spinraza.
A copy of the 22 page letter to OIG is available here.
KNOWLEDGE ECOLOGY INTERNATIONAL
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
12 JANUARY 2017
CONTACT: Zack Struver, zack.struver@keionline.org, +1 (202) 332-2670
Groups Object to Army Proposal to Give Sanofi a Monopoly on Patents for Taxpayer-Funded Zika Vaccine
Updated
According to this story, the India Patent Office has denied a patent for the prostate cancer drug sold under the brand name Xtandi (generic name Enzalutamide). Opponents of the patent claimed it was a new form of a known substance, and not eligible in India under Section 3(d) of its patent act.
Today The Lancet Commission on Essential Medicines Policies published the 74 page report on “Essential Medicines for Universal Health Coverage.” A copy is available here.
The report is rich in data, analysis and recommendations. The report endorses the delinking of R&D costs from drug prices:
Delinking R&D costs from the price of medicines
KEI and others working in the drug pricing space are frequently asked about measures that a new President or Congress can take to lower drug prices, in the relatively near term. The following is a list of such actions, including some that would require legislation and some that would not.
A comprehensive list of possible actions would be much longer, and this is not such a list. Our list does not include suggestions from several other groups working on drug pricing that deserve consideration, and there is nothing at this point on price spikes.
On August 5, 2016, KEI received a response from the Department of the Army to KEI and UACT’s January 14, 2016 request that the Army and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) exercise the governments’ rights in the patents for… Continue Reading
On Wednesday morning, 29 June 2016, Nigeria, on behalf of the African Group, presented a revised proposal (SCP/24/4) for a WIPO work program on Patents and Health at the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP). The African Group proposal is a welcome breath of fresh air in the patent committee; the proposal aims to make WIPO more responsive to recent developments including: 1) “Challenges to public health …. Continue Reading
29 June 2016
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (24th session)Statement of Knowledge Ecology International: Patents and Health
US Chamber of Commerce defends Swiss drug company charging excessive prices in Colombia
David Hirschmann, US Chamber, claims efforts to curb high prices for cancer drugs are “a destructive course.”
The US Chamber of Commerce might consider renaming itself the US/Swiss Chamber of Commerce, after their most recent attack on the Colombia Minister of Health (MoH) announcement that a “Declaration of Public Interest” would be issued for the patents on the cancer drug imatinib, held by the Swiss company Novartis. In the US Chamber’s defense of the Swiss drug company, they don’t mention the fact that Novartis has earned about $48 billion from sales of imatinib (sold by Novartis under the brand names Gleevec or Glivec) since the drug was put on the market, including more than $380 million per month in 2015. Continue Reading
2016: Chimeron Bio: KEI comments on NIH proposal for exclusive license for patents on cancer treatments
(More on government funded inventions here. Other KEI comments on NIH licenses are found here.) On May 18th, 2016 the NIH posted a notice on the Federal Register stating it is contemplating the grant of an exclusive license to Chimeron… Continue Reading