USPTO issued patents mentioning ritonavir in a patent claim

This note begins by looking at patents issued by the USPTO that specifically mention the term ritonavir in the patent claims, or mention the NIH contract that was used to fund the early development of the product. This includes 194 patents that cite ritonavir in the patent claims, and another 42 patents that cite the NIH contact that funded the early ritonavir work. We also provide quotes from an August 19, 2011 WIPO report on the patent landscape for ritonavir that found 805 patent families related to ritonavir.

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Cables from Chile illustrate ongoing pressure by US trade officials on behalf of drug companies

Wikileaks has published several cables invovling Chile, a country that signed an FTA with the United States/ When the Chile/US FTA came into effect in 2004, it was the template for a series of subsequent Bush Administration FTA agreements that ramped up IPR protections for pharmacetuicals and copyrights, and it seemed aggressive at the time. Continue Reading

Cable: US Government collaboration with drug companies to lobby the Finnish Parliament on drug pricing legislation

This July 9, 2008 cable concerns the collaboration between the US government and the pharmaceutical industry to lobby Finland on the pricing of pharmaceutical drugs. The cable was written by Michael A Butler, then the Deputy Chief of Mission in Helsinki, and is worth a read. Among other things, the cable says :

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KEI Intervention at UN HLM on HIV: De-Linking R&D costs from drug prices and the sustainability of treatment

un_hlm_panel_3_IMG_2446.JPGThese are the notes from my intervention today at the UN’s High Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS in New York. The persons making statements from the floor were asked to keep their comments to two minutes, so the actual intervention was somewhat shorter. Jamie

2011 High-Level Meeting on
the comprehensive review of the progress achieved in realizing
the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and
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SCP16: KEI intervention on Patents and Health

16th session of the WIPO Standing Committee of the Law of Patents (SCP)
Thursady, 19 May 2011

KEI Statement on Patents and Health

KEI is impressed by and fully supportive of the joint proposal of the African Group and the Development Agenda Group on a work program on Patents and Health, which has been published as SCP/16/7. We agree with the comments of the Chair that the proposal is both comprehensive and well thought out.

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Note on use of Orphan Drug Act to increase price of hydroxyprogesterone caproate from $10 to $1,500 per dose

(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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