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.html

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.

By Sophia Simon

*The author thanks Professor Marc Perlman (Brown University) for his comprehensive notes on the IGC deliberations of 3 June 2016.

By Sophia Simon

This week, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is convening the 30th session of the Intergovernmental Committee (IGC) on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (GRTKF) from 30 May 2016 to 3 June 2016. The goal of this week’s session is to "[u]ndertake negotiations on [genetic resources] GRs with a focus on addressing unresolved issues" and to consider "options for a draft legal instrument." The Committee is chaired by Ian Goss (Australia).

In October 2015 the General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) renewed the mandate of the the Intergovernmental Committee on Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (GRTKF):

The following is the intervention on behalf of Stichting Health Action International (HAI) at 69th World Health Assembly, Agenda Item 11.3 - Framework of engagement with non-State actors.

KEI worked with HAI on the statement, and the statement was delivered by Thiru Balasubramaniam

Saturday, 28 May 2016

WHA69: Resolution WHA69.23 on CEWG follow-up charts course for WHO's work on R&D

For more information, contact:
(U.S.) Andrew Goldman, KEI: andrew.goldman@keionline.org or +1 (202) 332-2670
(Colombia) Andrea Carolina Reyes Rojas, Misión Salud: subdireccion@mision-salud.org
(Colombia) Dr. Francisco Rossi, IFARMA: francisco_rossi@hotmail.com

(More on Colombia here: http://keionline.org/colombia)

Contact:
(U.S.) Andrew Goldman, KEI: andrew.goldman@keionline.org or +1 (202) 332-2670
(Colombia) Andrea Carolina Reyes Rojas, Misión Salud: subdireccion@mision-salud.org
(Colombia) Dr. Francisco Rossi, IFARMA: francisco_rossi@hotmail.com
(More on Colombia here: http://keionline.org/colombia)

Washington, DC — Today, 28 organizations that support the advancement of public health, as well as the successful continuation of the peace process in Colombia, urged President Obama to voice U.S. support for Colombia’s right to grant a compulsory license on an expensive leukemia drug.

The following is the intervention on behalf of Stichting Health Action International (HAI) at 69th World Health Assembly, Agenda Item 16.2: Follow-up to the report of the Consultative Expert Working Group on Research and Development: Financing and Coordination - Report of the open-ended meeting of Member States.

KEI worked with HAI on the statement, and it was delivered by James Love

(More on Colombia here: http://keionline.org/colombia)

In response to reports of USTR pressure on Colombia's potential compulsory license for imatinib, Senators Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., have sent a letter to USTR objecting "to any efforts to protect the public health of Colombians in a way that is appropriate, effective, and consistent with the country's trade and public health obligations," and condemning as unconscionable "that any representatives of the U.S. government would threaten to rescind funding for Colombia's peace iniative if a compulsory license for Glivec were issued."

Yesterday, fifteen House Democrats sent a letter to Ambassador Michael Froman at the United States Trade Representative to express serious concern that the United States officials have been pressuring Colombia to abandon the process of issuing a compulsory license on imatinib. The letter can be read here.

Yesterday, Colombia’s W Radio aired an interview with Senator Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, where he was asked about the reports of pressure on Colombia from the Senate Finance Committee, which he chairs, with regard to the compulsory license process for the expensive leukemia drug, imatinib.

(More on Colombia here: http://keionline.org/colombia)

On May 24, 2016, Colombia's Minister of Health, Alejandro Gaviria, made an intervention at the World Health Assembly that referred to the pressure Colombia has been facing with regard to the potential compulsory license for imatinib and called for the WHO to support members to ensure sustainable development through the regulation of pharmaceutical monopolies and promoting competition, transparency, and the rational use of drugs.