SCP24: KEI statement on Patents and Health
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
Gates Foundation v. Teachscape: Restrictions on Patenting of Gates-Funded Inventions
In the wake of the NIH’s letter to KEI declining to use the government’s rights in the federally-funded patents on Xtandi under the Bayh Dole Act, it is interesting to consider that even the Gates Foundation, hardly the anti-patent group, maintains certain programs and policies to ensure that Gates-funded inventions are used for charitable purposes, with limitations on pricing.
S. Ward Casscells, Pentagon Medical Chief, Praised Army Role in Xtandi Development
Dr. S. Ward Casscells took the stage at the 2011 Innovative Minds in Prostate Cancer Today (IMPaCT) Meeting as a prostate cancer patient, a doctor, an Army Reserve colonel, and the former top doctor for the Pentagon. There, he praised the central role of the Department of Defense in bringing important prostate cancer medicines to market, including Xtandi (referred to by its experimental name, MDV3100), an expensive prostate cancer drug that was funded from basic research through phase I and II clinical trials by taxpayer and charitable funds. Continue Reading
Human Rights Council heats up during informal talks on the primacy of human rights over international trade and IP regimes
At the 32nd session (13 June 2016 – 1 July 2016) of the Human Rights Council, a bloc of countries known as the the Core Group (Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, India, Senegal, South Africa and Thailand) have tabled a resolution on access to medicines “premised on the primacy of human rights over international trade, investment and intellectual property regimes.” The draft resolution complements the work of the United Nations High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines in reviewing and assessing “proposals and recommend solutions for remedying the policy incoherence between the justifiable rights of inven Continue Reading
Colombia Issues Public Interest Declaration To Lower Price of Glivec
Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria issued a declaration that it would be in the public interest for the government to lower the price of Novartis’ expensive leukemia drug, Gleevec (imatinib).
CONTACT: Andrew Goldman, +1 (202) 332-2670 or andrew.goldman@keionline.org
The following individuals are also available for comment:
- Andrea Carolina Reyes Rojas, Misión Salud: subdireccion@mision-salud.org
- Dr. Francisco Rossi, IFARMA: francisco_rossi@hotmail.com
Washington, DC, June 17, 2016 — Colombian Minister of Health Alejandro Gaviria today issued Resolution 2475 of 2016, declaring that it would be in the public interest for the government of Colombia to lower the price of an expensive leukemia drug. The Ministry of Health describes this resolution as unprecedented in Colombia.
The drug, imatinib, is marketed as Glivec in Colombia by the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis at a price of approximately $15,000 per patient per year, nearly twice the average income of a Colombian resident. Glivec has generated over $47 billion in global revenue for Novartis. 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
Alfred Engelberg and Aaron Kesselheim in Nature on Bayh-Dole royalty free rights in patents, Xtandi case
Alfred Engelberg and Aaron Kesselheim have published an opinion article in Nature titled:
“Use the Bayh-Dole Act to lower drug prices for government healthcare programs,” Nature Medicine 22, 576 (2016) doi:10.1038/nm0616-576, Published online 07 June 2016.
http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v22/n6/abs/nm0616-576.html2016: KEI comments on NIH proposal for exclusive licenses to Dimension Therapeutics, Inc.
On May 24th, 2016 the NIH posted a notice on the Federal Register stating it is contemplating the grant of an exclusive license to Dimension Therapeutics, Inc. for the development of an Adeno-Associated Virus Vectors for the Treatment of Glycogen… Continue Reading
2016: KEI comments on NIH proposal for exclusive licenses to IntelliPanel Medical, LLC
On May 19th, 2016 the NIH posted a notice on the Federal Register stating it is contemplating the grant of an exclusive license to IntelliPanel Medical, LLC. for Anti-TNF Induced Apoptosis (ATIA) Diagnostic Markers and Therapies. Below are the comments… Continue Reading
Colombia Ministry of Health Announces that Negotiations With Novartis Have Failed; Declaration of Public Interest Imminent
Reports have emerged from a DNDi meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, that the Colombian Ministry of Health announced that negotiations with Novartis over the price of Glivec have failed, and that Minister Alejandro Gaviria will proceed with the formal declaration that a compulsory license for the patents on the drug is in the public interest.