2017: Kymriah, the Novartis $475,000 CAR T treatment, received 50 percent Orphan Drug tax credit on trials

Missing in the reporting on the Novartis price for Kymriah, its new $475,000 CAR T treatment, is that Novartis received an Orphan Drug designation in February 3, 2015, and sequently received a tax credit subsidy from the United States equal to 50 percent of the cost of qualifying clinical trials.

From the FDA database on Orphan Designations:
https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/opdlisting/oopd/detailedIndex.cfm?cfgridkey=463114

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KEI statement regarding Gilead’s Acquisition of Kite Pharma

KEI statement regarding Gilead’s Acquisition of Kite Pharma.

“Congress should require the NIH to enforce the Bayh-Dole obligation to make the Kite Pharma Chimeric Antigen Receptors Technologies (CAR T) treatments available to the public on reasonable terms.

KEI notes that Kite reported spending $317 million in R&D from 2012 to June 30, 2017, and is selling the company for $11.9 billion.

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USTR Chief Innovation and Intellectual Property Negotiator

In February 2016, the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 became law, as PL 114-125. Section 609 of the law created a new position in USTR, the “Chief Innovation and Intellectual Property Negotiator.” This position creates a position for a presidential poltical appointee confirmed by the Senate, with the rank of ambassador, replacing the current system where the IP negotiators are civil servants, reporting to political appointees. Continue Reading

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NIH response to KEI request for NIH policy on on the licensing of federally-funded CRISPR patented inventions.

On June 6, 2017, KEI wrote to Dr. Thomas Price, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), and Dr. Francis S. Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) requesting the HHS develop a policy on the licensing of federally-funded CRISPR patented inventions. A copy of our letter is available here: /node/2801.

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KEI comments at July 25, 2017 civil society stakeholder forum at the 19th round of the RCEP negotiation

These are the notes I used when providing the KEI comments at the July 25, 2017 civil society stakeholder forum at the 19th round of the RCEP negotiation.

My name is James Love. I work for Knowledge Ecology International, an NGO that focuses on the social aspects to the production, management and control of knowledge goods. I am also a member of the board of directors of the Union for Affordable Cancer Treatment.

The IP Chapter is complex, and in the time allocated, I will discuss five issues.

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