Knowledge Ecology International

After at least eight rounds of negotiation, including two Geneva-based negotiations held on 12 May 2017 and 17 May 2017, the G20 Health Ministers meeting, convened in Berlin from 19-20 May 2017 issued the following declaration.

In relation to the R&D pipeline for developing new antimicrobial therapies, the G20 recognized “the importance of fostering R&D for new antimicrobials, alternative therapies, vaccines and rapid-point-of care diagnostics, in particular for priority pathogens as identified by WHO and for tuberculosis.”

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The Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards asked the U.S. Army to require Sanofi to charge a reasonable price for a taxpayer-funded Zika vaccine, in a letter dated May 10, 2017.

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>> IFLA: Thank you again Mr. Chair for allowing IFLA to take the floor. IFLA supports initiatives to support and make available cumulative knowledge and cultural heritage and recognize the role of libraries and archives in that respect. We further… Continue Reading →

Today I published a timeline on the collaboration between Sanofi and the U.S. Army regarding the development of a vaccine for the Zika virus.

One major issue that we have raised is on the price of the Zika Vaccine. KEI and other groups have asked the Army to ensure that Sanofi does not charge U.S. taxpayers a higher price than in other high-income countries. This is not a remote concern. Recently, we published a blog showing that Sanofi charges Americans four to eight times more for its MS drug Aubagio (teriflunomide) compared to other high-income countries. If Sanofi refuses to agree to a reasonable pricing provision, then we know that Sanofi wants to keep open the option of charging the United States the highest price in the world for a drug funded by American taxpayers.

The timeline provides the dates of several key events, such as the filing of patent applications, the dates of the Army/Sanofi CRADA and grants from BARDA, the signing of the Principles of Collaboration with the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), the publication of Federal Register notices on the intent of the Army to grant exclusive licenses on patents, responses by patient and public interest groups, the New York Times op-ed by Sen. Bernie Sanders and the response by Dr. Elias Zerhouni on behalf of Sanofi, and the letter from members of the House of Representatives.
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Today KEI attended the annual listening session at DHHS, when speakers are alotted no more than 1.5 minutes to speak on a specific agenda item, with no more than two agenda items per speaker. Our brief comments were focused on advancing the delinkage approach in the contexts of the GSPOA, CEWG, and cancer.

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This was the KEI submission to the OECD consultation on “Sustainable access to innovative therapies,” which involved four questions posed by OECD on access to medicines.

Question 1: Reflecting on the last 5-10 years, what do you think have been the major changes affecting access to medicines?

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