According to stories in the German and French press (links below), Tilman Lueder will be leaving his position as the head of union for copyright for the European Commission, for a new EC job in China. [The FT confirms Tilman is leaving, but suggests he will have a different assignment]. Tilman will reportedly be replaced by Maria Martin-Prat. Continue Reading
On March 22, 2011, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) published the following guest editorial about the EU/India Free Trade Agreement negotiations.
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The following groups and individuals have written to Anand Grover, the Special Rapporteur for the United Nations on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, to lodge a complaint about the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP is a regional free trade agreement being negotiated by the governments of Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, Peru, Vietnam and the United States.
(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.
April 2011 ushers in a busy period for the World Health Organization. Continue Reading
KEI has obtained the February 10, 2011 US government draft of the intellectual property chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP).
David Hammerstein is a former Member of the European Parliament from Spain. He now works for the Trans-Atlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD). Among other things, he is an advocate for a new WIPO copyright treaty for persons who are blind or have other disabilities. The following is an interview with David, carried out from March 3 to March 6 by email.
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On March 2, 2011, Michel Barnier, the EC Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, wrote to Dan Pescod of the European Blind Union, to defend the European Commission decision to back a soft alternative to a treaty at WIPO. (More context, including the text of all of the proposals at WIPO,