USTR has provided some details of the new trade agreement with Mexico, here. As usual, the agreement seems to favor drug companies and holders of copyrights, although few of the details are known. Among the specifics revealed are a proposed… Continue Reading
On August 20, 2018, KEI and T1International filed comments to the NIH regarding the prospective grant of an exclusive license to Inversago Pharma, a firm headquartered in Canada. According to the Federal Register notice 83 FR 38707, the NIH exclusive… Continue Reading
Below are the comments filed by Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) and the Union for Affordable Cancer Treatment (UACT) regarding a prospective grant of an exclusive license of NIH-owned patents to the California-based company Midissia Therapeutics. The prospective exclusive license is… Continue Reading
UPDATE: On Wednesday, 15 August 2018, WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus provided a response to the open letter on the Roadmap on Access to Medicines and Vaccines 2019-2023. The Director-General’s response can be found here: WHO DG letter to… Continue Reading
The following is a question for the record from Senator Sherrod Brown, and a response from Alex Azar, in connection with Azar’s confirmation hearing. Questions for the Record January 9, 2018 Hearing to Consider the Nomination of Alex Azar to… Continue Reading
This is the July 26, 2018 draft of the UN declaration on NCDs. NCD-Draft-co-facilitators-text-26July2018 [The earlier July 16, 2018 draft is available here: NCD-POL-DECLARATION-16JUL2018] To nobody’s surprise, the July 26, 2018 version is very weak. In the July 26, 2018… Continue Reading
On 26 September 2018, the United Nations’ General Assembly will convene the first high-level meeting on tuberculosis; the theme of the meeting is “United to end tuberculosis: an urgent global response to a global epidemic”. In preparation for the United… Continue Reading
The new House democrats medicare negotiations bill represents a turning point, with broad support for using robust compulsory licensing authority to protect access if negotiations on prices break down. The press conference announcing the bill featured several Democratic members of… Continue Reading
On July 18, 2018, the U.S. House Energy and Commerce committee gave its approval to HR 6378, the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, known as PAHPA. During the mark up, Reps. John Shimkus (R-IL) and Tony Cárdenas (D-CA) proposed attaching… Continue Reading
The following are comments by the KEI on the HHS Blueprint to Lower Drug Prices and Reduce Out-of-Pocket Costs, in response to notice in the Federal Register, 83 FR 22692. Overall, the Blueprint is very weak, and won’t do much… Continue Reading