Intervention of Chile to the TRIPS Council on Copyright Limitations and Exceptions
This statement was delivered by Chile on 5 June 2012 at the WTO TRIPS Council on copyright limitations and exceptions.
(WHO donors) Gates Foundation, US, UK, Canada, Rotary Int., Norway and GAVI: Setting the agenda for global public health?
In preparation for the 65th World Health Assembly, held in Geneva from 21 May 2012 to 26 May 2012, the World Health Organization (WHO) prepared a document (A65/29 Add. 1, 5 April 2012) entitled “Voluntary contributions by fund and by donor for the financial period 2010-2011. Continue Reading
Recent ICE Press regarding counterfeit of pharmaceutical drugs
This is a rough list of the recent ICE press releases mentioning counterfeit and pharmaceutical. It is quite clear that the overwhelming majority of counterfeit busts involve Viagra and other erectile dysfunction drugs, a problem that will probably resolve itself once the Pfizer patents on Viagra expire.
In my quick read of the ICE press releases, I found just 12 pharmaceutical counterfeiting cases in the ICE press releases from 2009 to May 2012, with 14 defendants.
- 13 of the 14 defendants were men.
What’s a counterfeit? And how many counterfeit drugs are there?
Donald McNeil has an article in the New York Times that appeared in print on May 22, 2012 (page D6 of the New York edition) with the headline: “Malaria: Fake and Substandard Drugs Grow as Threat to Fight Disease.” A web version is available here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/22/health/policy/fake-and-substandard-drugs-grow-as-threat-to-fight-malaria.html
KEI Statement on WHA resolution on Consultative Expert Working Group on Research and Development: Financing and Coordination
KEI Statement on World Health Assembly resolution on Consultative Expert Working Group on Research and Development: Financing and Coordination
A number of developing countries worked together to push the World Health Assembly to create a member state process to consider the implementation of the CEWG. The most important CEWG recommendations are to begin work on a new WHO Convention on R&D financing, and to de-link R&D costs from drug prices.
EU Statement at World Health Assembly on Consultative Expert Working Group Report
The EU has provided KEI with a copy of the EU statement delivered at the 65th World Health Assembly on Wed, May 23, 2012, on the WHO Consultative Expert Working Group on R&D Financing. In a nutshell, the EU position is to “generally support” the US led position, and to slow everything down. Here are some of the main points:
- We recognise that current measures are insufficient, although we also cherish the collective efforts that have been made with respect to the issue so far.
The WHA negotiations so far, on R&D financing
This is a brief note regarding the WHA negotiations on the proposed treaty for medical R&D, and in particular, the elements which deal with financing R&D. I’ll skip the history and earlier context of the negotiations, and focus on the main issues in play this week.
US intervention at World Health Assembly on the CEWG on R&D financing and coordination
On May 23, 2012, the World Health Assembly began discussion of Agenda Item 13.14, the report of the Consultative Expert Working Group (CEWG) on Research and Development Financing and Coordination.
Obligations to fund R&D, under CEWG recommendation
The World Heath Organization is now debating proposal in a report form a Consultative Expert Working Group (CEWG) on R&D for a new medical R&D treaty, focusing on the special health needs of developing countries. The following table shows how much money various regions and countries would be obligated to spend on R&D, under the treaty proposal, which is .0001 of GDP, of which 20 percent would be invested through pooled funding mechanisms.
Continue Reading
BIO memo opposing transparency of drug development costs, sales, prices, and clinical trial outcomes
Senator Sanders has offered an amendment to the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act of 2012 that would require drug sponsors to disclose the costs of pre-clinical research, clinical trials and related R&D, as well as grants, economic incentives that subsidize drug development costs, and also report quarterly sales and revenues, register all clinical trials at www.clinicaltrials.gov, and report detailed descriptions of each clinical trial participant’s results.