Search Results for: ustr

Human Rights Council heats up during informal talks on the primacy of human rights over international trade and IP regimes

Posted on by Thiru

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

Posted on by KEI Staff

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 →

Uncategorized

2016: Chimeron Bio: KEI comments on NIH proposal for exclusive license for patents on cancer treatments

Posted on by KEI Staff

(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 →

Colombia Ministry of Health Announces that Negotiations With Novartis Have Failed; Declaration of Public Interest Imminent

Posted on by Andrew Goldman

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.

Continue Reading →

Uncategorized