BIO, PhRMA and US Chamber of Commerce express fear of UN High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines in letter to Senator Hatch

In a sternly worded letter dated 18 February 2016, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC), the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (the Chamber) and the United States Council for International Business (USCIB) wrote Senator Orrin Hatch (Republican – Utah) expressing serious reservations with the United Nations High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines (UN HLP). Continue Reading

TRIPS Council March 2016: India reiterates support for de-linkage and references UN High Level Panel on Access to Medicines

In early March 2016, the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) TRIPS Council discussed “Intellectual Property and Innovation: Education and Diffusion”. The following delegations co-sponsored discussion of this item on Education and Diffusion – Australia, European Union, Switzerland, United States, Japan, Singapore, Peru, Russian Federation, Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong China.

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11 February 2016: 5 groups express concerns over WIPO statements relating to UN High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines

On Thursday, 11 February 2016, five groups including Knowledge Ecology International (KEI), Oxfam, Stop AIDS, Third World Network (TWN) and Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) sent a letter to Dr. Francis Gurry, Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) highlighting our concerns with statements expressed by WIPO relating to the United Nations Secretary ­General’s High-­Level Panel on Access to Medicines (HLP). To date, we have yet to hear any formal response from WIPO. Continue Reading

KEI submissions to the UN Secretary General’s High Level Panel on Access to Medicine

Attached below are the four submissions for which KEI was the lead author to the UN Secretary General’s High Level Panel (HLP) on Access to Medicine.

  1. “The Need for Global Negotiations on Agreements to Fund R&D within the Context of a Progressive De-linking of R&D Costs from Product Prices”. Supported by 12 organizations; 1 individual; 3 Members of European Parliament.
  2. “Increasing the Transparency of Markets for Drugs, Vaccines, Diagnostics and other Medical Technologies”. Supported by 17 organizations; 2 individuals; 3 Members of European Parliament.
  3. Continue Reading

Press Release: Coalition for Affordable T-DM1 Asks UK Government to grant compulsory licenses on Roche breast cancer drug

Press Release: Coalition for Affordable T-DM1 Asks the UK Government to Employ Crown Use Authority to Lower Price of Expensive Cancer Drug sold by Roche

CONTACT:

Diarmaid McDonald
email: accessdiarmaid@gmail.com
+44.7894.4557.81

Susannah Markandya
email: s.markandya@gmail.com
+44.7811.9573.12

Zack Struver
email: zack.struver@keionline.org
Cell: +1.914.582.1428
Office: +1.202.332.2670 (between 2:00 PM and 10:00 PM BST)

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WIPO SCP22: Language on GRULAC proposal to revise 1979 WIPO Model Law for Developing Countries on Inventions

On 30 July 2015 at 8:30 PM Geneva time, the Chair (Bucura Ionescu, Romania) of WIPO’s 22nd Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) distributed the following non-paper related to the proposal by the Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries (GRULAC) to revise the 1979 WIPO Model Law for Developing Countries on Inventions. If this language is tabled, WIPO’s normative committee on patents will continue discussions on the GRULAC proposal.

INFORMAL NON-PAPER

SCP/22: PROPOSAL BY THE CHAIR
July 30, 2015
20.30

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July 2015: WTO reports on EU competition policy and copyright law – WTO Trade Policy Review – European Union

On 6 July 2015 and 8 July 2015, the World Trade Organization (WTO) conducted a trade policy review of the European Union. All members of the WTO are subject to review under the Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM). As noted by the WTO secretariat, the “basis for the review is a report by the WTO Secretariat and a report by the Government of the European Union” (Source: Trade Policy Review – European Union, July 2015).

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