WTO TRIPS Council (October 2020): South Africa issues clarion call urging support for TRIPS waiver proposal

On Friday, 16 October 2020, members of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) TRIPS Council held a three hour debate on the proposal (IP/C/W/669) first tabled by India and South Africa for a waiver from certain provisions of the TRIPS Agreement… Continue Reading

COVID-19 Contracts

United States of America Below are links to copies of the contracts entered into by the US government for technologies to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. KEI is updating this page as we gain access to more contracts, and less redacted… Continue Reading

Taxpayers are subsidizing 80 percent of Regeneron’s COVID-19 treatment’s R&D costs

Regeneron Pharmaceutical recently applied for Emergency Use Authorization of its investigational COVID-19 treatment, REGN-COV2, after Donald Trump said that it cured him of COVID-19, suggesting that Regeneron expects to cash in on the treatment. Taxpayers, however, are funding 80 percent… Continue Reading

KEI on Moderna’s Oct 8, 2020 Statement on Intellectual Property Matters during the COVID-19 Pandemic

(More on KEI’s work on coronavirus here: https://www.keionline.org/coronavirus, and on Moderna, here: https://www.keionline.org/moderna) Oct 8, 2020 Moderna’s statement on intellectual property matters during the COVID-19 pandemic is very good, and should be matched by every manufacturer of a therapeutic, vaccine… Continue Reading

KEI written statement at the WHO Executive Board special session: Update on implementation of resolution WHA73.1 (2020) on the COVID-19 response

Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) is an accredited non-state actor at the World Health Organization (WHO). This is our statement at the WHO Executive Board Special Session on the COVID-19 response. https://extranet.who.int/nonstateactorsstatements/print/book/export/html/3916?destination=node/3916 Knowledge Ecology International Meeting: EB Special session on the… Continue Reading

DARPA letter to KEI confirming investigation of Moderna for failure to report government funding in patent applications

On Friday, September 18, 2020, KEI received a letter from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) confirming that the agency was investigating Moderna for failure to report government funding in patent applications. The Financial Times and other outlets had… Continue Reading

Joint letter to WHO formally requesting the R&D Observatory to play a more relevant role in the COVID-19 response

On Friday, 28 August 2020, six groups including Corporación Innovarte, Health Action International, Knowledge Ecology International, Medicines Law & Policy, Pharmaceutical Accountability Foundation, and Wemos wrote a joint letter to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Chief Scientist, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan,… Continue Reading

BARDA is investigating Moderna’s failures to disclose BARDA funding in patent applications

(More on Moderna here: https://www.keionline.org/moderna) KEI received a letter Dr. Gary Disbrow, the Acting Director of BARDA, just before noon today. BARDA2KEI.Moderna.Patent.Disclosures.20200903 The BARDA investigation follows the announcement on Saturday that DARPA was also investigating DARPA’s failures to disclose DARPA… Continue Reading