Knowledge Ecology International

As part of a partial response to FOIA request, USTR has provided KEI with copies of 13 letters sent by members of Congress, from July 27, 2011 to August 8, 2013, on the topic of biologic drug test data provisions in the TPP negotiation. We had obtained several but not all of these letters earlier from a variety of sources, including from PhRMA’s web page — where some had been proudly displayed. (See link below).

Were there letters on the other side? Yes, three. (see below).

With the FOIA request, we have also obtained the responses to the letters.

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On July 24, 2014, the Medicines Patent Pool announced welcome modifications and expansions of their licensing agreement with Gilead. Among the significant changes were the addition of a new drug, tenofovir alafenamide (TAF), formerly known as GS-7340. TAF is a nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitor, and a prodrug of tenofovir. TAF is considered to have similar antiretroviral efficacy to tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF), the drug it may replace in use, but can be administered with smaller doses and with less adverse effect on kidneys and bones.

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KEI is creating a timeline for various events relating to the discovery and the development of diagnostics, vaccines and drugs for Hepatitis. A working draft of the timeline is available here. Continue Reading →

To get a quick look at who is holding patents on the Hepatitis C Virus, I did some searches of the USPTO database. In each search, I looked for the term HCV in the field for patent claims (ACLM). Note this is fairly arbitrary, and I get different (and higher) numbers if I include HCV in the Abstract. In any case:

There were 1164 patents that have the term HCV in the patent claim.

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Attached is policy briefing note that sets out possible mechanisms to overcome the exclusive rights of patents for drugs to treat the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), in the United States. Each approach involves leadership from different actors. Each has advantages and disadvantages, including legal and practical risks. (Available here)

Table of Contents
1. The Federal Government use of HCV patents, without permission from right holder
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I had not seen this lawsuit filed by Gilead against AbbVie and Abbott before. It is an interesting read. According to Gilead:

Abbott executives and “inventors” conspired and carried out the initial steps of the company’s scheme by filing serial fraudulent patent applications asserting that Abbott had invented methods of treating HCV using PSI-7977 as well as the Gilead Combination (as well as thousands of combinations of Abbott’s other competitors’ HCV compounds). The first of these applications is dated October 21, 2011.

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On 8 July 2014, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Tuberculosis (APPGTB) released a seminal report entitled, “Dying for a Cure: Research and Development for Global Health.” The APPGTB is co-chaired by Andrew George MP (St Ives, Liberal Democrat), Rt Hon Nick Herbert MP (Arundel and South Downs, Conservative) and Virendra Sharma MP (Ealing Southall, Continue Reading →