WIPO General Assembly 2014: KEI statement on the Report of the Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP)

On Wednesday, 24 September 2014, Knowledge Ecology International delivered the following statement at the 2014 WIPO General Assembly on agenda item 13, Report of the Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) and Review of the Implementation of the Development Agenda Recommendations.

13. Report of the Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) and Review of the Implementation of the Development Agenda Recommendations

Statement of Knowledge Ecology International

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Comments of KEI regarding the White House OSTP call for comments on its Strategy for American Innovation

Comments of KEI regarding the White House OSTP call for comments on its Strategy for American Innovation

(PDF of comments here)

Attn: Dan Correa, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Eisenhower Executive Office Building, 1650 Pennsylvania Ave NW., Washington, DC 20504.
Email: innovationstrategy@ostp.gov.
Re: Strategy for American Innovation
Date: September 23, 2014

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WIPO General Assembly 2014: Opening Statement of Knowledge Ecology International

On Tuesday, 23 September 2014, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) delivered this opening statement on the occasion of the Fifty-Fourth Series of Meetings of the Assemblies of the Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Thank you Madame Chair for providing Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) the opportunity to speak today.

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Bayer’s rejection of request for affordable Nexavar for Fathi Helmi Aboseda (Egypt)

Today we received news from Nina Mahmud that her father-in-law, Fathi Helmi Aboseda, has passed away in Egypt. Mr. Aboseda was suffering from liver cancer. Earlier this year, Nina Mahmud had contacted Bayer and KEI asking for help in finding affordable copies of sorafenib, a drug for liver and kidney cancer sold by Bayer under the trade name Nexavar, a drug that was extending and improving the quality of his life. The price of Nexavar in Egypt was $900 per week, and Mr. Aboseda had used his entire life savings to buy the drug.

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13 May 2014: WHO Technical Consultation on Innovative Models for New Antibiotics’ Development and Preservation

In a concerted bid to contain the emerging threat posed by antibiotic resistance, in May 2014, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 67th World Health Assembly (WHA) passed WHA resolution 67.25 on “Antimicrobial resistance” instructing the WHO to “develop a global action plan to combat antimicrobial resistance” by May 2015 (Source: WHO page on Draft Global action plan on antimicrobial resistance). Continue Reading

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January 2013: Proposal for the inclusion of trastuzumab in WHO EML for treatment of HER2-Positive Breast Cancer

On 14 January 2013, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI), the University of California (San Francisco), Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM), Third World Network (TWN) and Young Professionals Chronic Disease Network: YP-CDN submitted a Proposal for the Inclusion of Trastuzumab in the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines for the Treatment of HER2-Positive Breast Cancer to WHO’s Exper Continue Reading

Money speaks: USTR releases letters from Congress backing PhRMA on exclusive rights biologic test data in TPP

As part of a partial response to FOIA request, USTR has provided KEI with copies of 13 letters sent by members of Congress, from July 27, 2011 to August 8, 2013, on the topic of biologic drug test data provisions in the TPP negotiation. We had obtained several but not all of these letters earlier from a variety of sources, including from PhRMA’s web page — where some had been proudly displayed. (See link below).

Were there letters on the other side? Yes, three. (see below).

With the FOIA request, we have also obtained the responses to the letters.

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