The Fordham international IP conference just concluded a panel on patents for second uses of medical inventions, and the discussions illustrated once more the degree to which the patent system is poorly designed to address this issue.
These were my notes from my talk on Thursday morning at the annual Fordham International IP conference, which is organized by Professor Hugh Hansen. The panel was titled “Examination of TPP & TTIP.”
What is wrong with the TransPacific Partnership (TPP)?
The TPP was negotiated with asymmetric secrecy. Not from industry, but from the public. Nearly all of the real experts in IP policy were in the dark over the actual language of the texts. We delegated too much power to government trade negotiators and to lobbyists.
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
GSK has made a major announcement of new policies to expand access to its patented medicines. A copy of the press statement is here. Continue Reading
Sanofi $9.3 Billion Medivation Bid 28 April 2016. Ben Hirschler and Leigh Thomas. Sanofi launches $9.3 billion fight for U.S. cancer firm Medivation. Reuters. 28 April 2016. Helen Thomas. Sanofi / Medivation: Deal-Making Déjà Vu Comes With Added Competition. WSJ.… Continue Reading
On March 28, 2016, six Senators and six members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to HHS Secretary Burwell and Director Collins at NIH, calling for an “open and transparent public hearing” to discuss the issues presented in… Continue Reading
This was the Wall Street Journal’s take on the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health, two days after the agreement was reached:
CONTACT:
Zack Struver
zack.struver@keionline.org
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FOR RELEASE: MARCH 21, 2016
Non-Profit Groups Urge Obama Administration, NIH to Lower Price of Government-Funded, $129,000 Per Year Prostate Cancer Drug
The groups asked the National Institutes of Health to “take this opportunity to act” to lower the price of the prostate cancer drug Xtandi and show leadership on deterring discriminatory pricing practices.
On 17 March 2016, the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) released a 76-page report entitled, Health Product Research & Development Fund: A Proposal for Financing and Operation.
I have provided an update on our work on US government owned patents here: