EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan issues statement on European Union compulsory licensing in context of COVID-19, makes important statement about TRIPS Article 31bis

On 14 May 2020, Bernd Lange, Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade (INTA) wrote a letter to Phil Hogan (Commissioner for Trade, European Commission) on the “commercial aspects of intellectual property rights for medical products in the… Continue Reading

AstraZeneca, Pfizer, IFPMA on the WHO COVID-19 Pool at May 28, 2020 IFPMA Press Briefing

At a May 28,2020 press briefing organized by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA), pharma CEOs and the IFPMA DG commented on the WHO proposal for a global pool for rights in technologies for the diagnosis, prevention… Continue Reading

WHA73: Written statement of KEI – Agenda item 3 – Address by WHO Director-General devoted to the COVID-19 pandemic response in advance of the opening of the Health Assembly

KEI is an accredited non-state actor at the World Health Organization (WHO). This is our statement at the 73rd World Health Assembly. https://extranet.who.int/nonstateactorsstatements/meetingoutline/6 Knowledge Ecology International Meeting: Seventy-third World Health Assembly Written statements on COVID-19 pandemic The biggest question today… Continue Reading

WHO member states poised to adopt weaker than needed COVID-19 resolution after tortuous negotiations

UPDATE: The World Health Organization has published the COVID-19 response resolution as a conference paper (A73/CONF./1) marked with the date of 18 May 2020. The sponsors of the draft resolution included: Albania, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bhutan, Bolivia (Plurinational State… Continue Reading

Patents related to PX-UV, an R2-D2 look-alike robot that may disinfect public spaces from SARS-CoV-2

Texas-based company Xenex Disinfection Services, a manufacturer of robots that reportedly removes the SARS-CoV-2 virus from public spaces, has been making news lately. One of their robots, which uses ultraviolet lights to kill viruses and bacteria in surfaces and look… Continue Reading

14 May 2020 – The WHO Covid-19 Technology Pool: The solution to ensure global access to Covid-19 health technologies

Livestream here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNMpuQfH088 On 14 May 2020, Health Action International, Knowledge Ecology International, Medicines Law & Policy, Pharmaceutical Accountability Foundation, and Wemos will convene a briefing entitled: “The WHO Covid-19 Technology Pool: The solution to ensure global access to Covid-19… Continue Reading