Attached is the text of a letter sent by Senator Bernie Sanders to Robert A. McDonald, the Secretary, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, asking the Secretary “to use your authority as Secretary of Veterans Affairs to break the patents on Hepatitis C medications for the treatment of veterans suffering with the disease.”
To prepare for the upcoming 68th World Health Assembly (WHA), the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services held a Stakeholder Listening Session on Friday, May 8, 2015, from 10:30am – 12pm in the HHS Humphrey Building – 200 Independence Ave, SW, Washington, DC 20201. All Agenda items for the upcoming WHA are here:
http://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA68/A68_1-en.pdf
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On Friday May 8, 2015, the US Department of Health and Human Services held a listening session to solicit input on the agenda items for the upcoming 68th World Health Assembly. KEI delivered five interventions covering a range of critical WHA topics. The full provisional agenda of the 68th WHA can be accessed here:
On Friday, 8 May 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) unveiled its 19th WHO Model of Essential Medicines (April 2015).
With respect to cancer drugs (Section 8.2, Cytoxic and Adjuvant Medicines), the Executive Summary noted that the Committee added 16 new medicines.
WHO donors in 2014 (US, Gates Foundation, UK, GAVI and Canada): Setting the agenda for global public health?
In preparation for the 68th World Health Assembly, to be convened in Geneva from 18 May 2015 to 26 May 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) prepared a document (A68/INF./1, 1 May 2015), entitled “Annex to the Financial Report for the year ended 31 December 2014, Voluntary contributions by fund and by contributor). Continue Reading
2015: NIH refuses to give information about principals in company seeking exclusive license to HCV patents
USTR’s 2015 Special 301 List
Every year USTR issues a list of countries targeted to be subjected to trade pressures over their policies on intellectual property rights. This year’s list was published on April 30, 2015. KEI has a copy of every version of the Special 301 list here: https://www.keionline.org/ustr/special301
USTR describes the list as follows:
The Special 301 Process
Continue ReadingSeminars on Drug Pricing: Part 1, Paul Grootendorst
Today, KEI hosted the first talk in a series of seminars on drug pricing. The seminar, conducted via video conference, focused on the Canadian approach to drug pricing. Each seminar in the series is intended to contribute to the discussion on drug pricing and how we can improve affordability and access to medicines. Paul Grootendorst began with a presentation (the slides are available here), before opening up the discussion to questions from those participating in the video conference.
2015: Kassy Perry, speaking on behalf of ?, opposing AB 463, on transparency of drug R&D costs and subsidies
During the debate of California bill AB 463, on the Pharmaceutical Cost Transparency Act of 2015, Kassy Perry was using Twitter to attack the bill, posting links to and repeating pharmaceutical industry talking points. Who is Kassy Perry? A founder of Perry Communications, a Sacramento public relations and lobbying firm. This is her Twitter profile:
Public Citizen, National Physicians Alliance, Other Civil Society Groups Write Letters in Support of California AB 463
In addition to the numerous groups and institutions that stood in support of AB 463 (Pharmaceutical Cost Transparency Act of 2015) at the California Assembly Health Committee hearing on April 21st, six civil society groups that we are aware of have submitted letters or statements in support of the bill.
In alphabetical order, these include:
1. American Medical Students Association (AMSA)
2. National Council of Asian Pacific Islander Physicians (NCAPIP)
3. National Physicians Alliance (NPA)
4. Public Citizen
5. Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM)
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