The 7th Round of the negotiations of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) Agreement began Monday September 29, 2014 in the United States. This round’s paltry effort at transparency, the TTIP Stakeholder Engagement Day, was held at the suburban 4-H conference center in Chevy Chase, MD. Although the information packet for the event included public transport instructions, the location was difficult to access for any attendees without a car, and even then, parking was extremely limited. Continue Reading →
On Thursday, 25 September 2014, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) delivered this statement on agenda item 17(i), Reports on other WIPO Committees, (i) Standing on the Law of Patents (SCP).
WIPO General Assembly 2014
17. Reports on other WIPO Committees
(i) Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP);
Statement of Knowledge Ecology International
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Comments of KEI regarding the White House OSTP call for comments on its Strategy for American Innovation
(PDF of comments here)
Attn: Dan Correa, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Eisenhower Executive Office Building, 1650 Pennsylvania Ave NW., Washington, DC 20504.
Email: innovationstrategy@ostp.gov.
Re: Strategy for American Innovation
Date: September 23, 2014
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Today we received news from Nina Mahmud that her father-in-law, Fathi Helmi Aboseda, has passed away in Egypt. Mr. Aboseda was suffering from liver cancer. Earlier this year, Nina Mahmud had contacted Bayer and KEI asking for help in finding affordable copies of sorafenib, a drug for liver and kidney cancer sold by Bayer under the trade name Nexavar, a drug that was extending and improving the quality of his life. The price of Nexavar in Egypt was $900 per week, and Mr. Aboseda had used his entire life savings to buy the drug.
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On Monday, 22 September 2014, Bangladesh delivered the following statement on behalf of the Asia Pacific Group. Here below is the Group’s position on WIPO’s normative work including copyright limitations and exceptions for libraries and archives, copyright limitations and exceptions for educational and research institutions and persons with other disabilities, the proposed Design Law Treaty, the proposed broadcasting treaty and proposed instruments for the protection of genetic resources, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions.
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A long standing parlor game for WIPO insiders and observers during the summer of 2014 involved guessing the composition of WIPO’s new Senior Management Team (the team of deputy director generals and assistant director generals who form WIPO’s cabinet). On 16 September 2014, the WIPO secretariat laid this to rest by revealing the composition of the new WIPO Senior Management Team of deputy director generals and assistant director generals. New faces in the cabinet include: Mr. Continue Reading →
On Monday, September 15, 2014, Gilead announced licensing agreements with 7 generic drug manufacturers, for two of its HCV drugs, including sofosbuvir, which is currently the most important HCV drug, and the basis for Gilead’s value to shareholders. KEI’s statement from Monday, and links to other NGO comments are here: https://www.keionline.org/node/2082.
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Today Gilead announced it will provide seven generic drug manufacturers licenses to make and sell two drugs that are used in combination to treat the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) in 91 developing countries.
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