KEI comments on prospective exclusive NIH license to streptococcus pneumonia patents, for the University of Liverpool

On July 2, 2018, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) filed comments to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) regarding the prospective grant of an exclusive license to the University of Liverpool, located in the U.K. The inventions described in the Federal… Continue Reading

Six organizations ask HHS Secretary Azar to take title of 5 patents on Exondys 51, as remedy to failure by inventors to disclose NIH funding

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 5, 2018 kim.treanor@keionline.org (202)-332-2670 Six organizations are asking Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to take actions to lower the price of eteplirsen, a drug sold under the brand name Exondys 51, to… Continue Reading

Six University of Pennsylvania and Daniel J. Rader patents on Juxtapid (lomitapide) failed to discuss multiple NIH grants

Update: In a letter dated March 28, 2018, Robert Firestone wrote to the NIH on behalf of Penn, stating that the NIH grants were infrastructure grants that did not give the NIH rights in the inventions. 2018-03-28-Penn-Response-juxtapid-Rader On March 19,… Continue Reading

18 members of the House of Representatives call for compulsory license on patents for HCV treatments

Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA-17) was joined by 17 other members of Congress in calling upon Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to issue a compulsory license on patents for medications to treat hepatitis C, by exercising 28… Continue Reading

2017: NIH non-response response to KEI and MSF comments on the proposed exclusive license of Zika vaccine patents to PaxVax

(More on government funded inventions here. Other KEI comments on NIH licenses are found here.) On November 30, 2017, KEI has received a response from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases regarding our previous joint comments with MSFon the proposed exclusive… Continue Reading

KEI Comment on GOP proposal to eliminate the Orphan Drug Tax Credit

Statement by James Love, KEI Director, on GOP proposal to eliminate the Orphan Drug Tax Credit.

The GOP proposal to eliminate the Orphan Drug Tax Credit may create a new opportunity to reform the incentives for rare diseases, even if the tax bill fails or the tax credit survives. The GOP tax bill shows there is weaker support for the existing regime than many thought.

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