KEI and Médecins Sans Frontières propose contractual terms to protect access and affordability of Zika vaccine

Posted on by Kim Treanor

25 July 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Kim Treanor, kim.treanor@keionline.org or +1 (202) 332-2670

Washington, 25 July 2017 – Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) have sent a letter today to the Command Judge Advocate of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC), recommending two specific contractual terms for the proposed license of the US Army’s Zika vaccine technology to Sanofi Pasteur.

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2017: NantBioScience – Commercial Application and Use of Fulvestrant in Combination Therapy for the Treatment of Cancers

Posted on by Kim Treanor

(More on government funded inventions here. Other KEI comments on NIH licenses are found here.) In 2016, the NIH signed a CRADA with NantBioScience, a company lead by Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD. to develop “Further Develop Recombinant NK Cells and Monoclonal Antibodies as… Continue Reading →

House Appropriations rejects Kaptur amendment (allow competition for gov funded drugs if prices higher than reference countries)

Posted on by Kim Treanor

On 19 July 2017, Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) introduced an amendment at the markup in the U.S. House Appropriations Committee of the FY2018 State and Foreign Operations, Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations bill that would direct the Department of Health and Human Services to use its authority to break patent monopolies for government-funded inventions priced higher in the U.S. than seven other high-income countries.

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Senate Armed Services Committee directive on use of Bayh-Dole rights for DoD funded drugs

Posted on by Kim Treanor

The report of the Senate Armed Services Committee on the National Defense Authorization Act of 2018, S. 1519, published July 10, 2017, includes a directive that links exclusive patent rights to the prices of drugs, vaccines and other medical technologies that are based upon DoD-funded inventions.

The text of the directive, approved unanimously by the full Senate Armed Services Committee, is as follows:

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SCP26 – Agreement reached on future work reached at WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (6 July 2017)

Posted on by Thiru

On Thursday afternoon, 6 July 2017, the 26th session of the WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP), chaired by Ms. Bucura Ionescu (Romania) reached agreement on future work on the following issues: i) Exceptions and Limitations to Patent Rights, ii) Quality of Patents, including Opposition Systems, iii) Patents and Health, iv) Confidentiality of Communications between Clients and Their Patent Advisors and v) Transfer of Technology. Continue Reading →