On May 18th, the People’s Vaccine Alliance sent Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, a letter urgently requesting that vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics for COVID-19 be added to Schedule 1 of the Patent Act. Below is the text of the PVA… Continue Reading
On Monday, 17 May 2021, the 62 co-sponsors of a waiver from certain provisions of the TRIPS Agreement for the prevention, containment and treatment of COVID-19 (IP/C/W/669) published a joint statement (IP/C/W/677) on COVID-19. This joint statement foreshadows the revised… Continue Reading
Today the government of Bolivia and Biolyse, a company based in Canada, signed an agreement to acquire COVID-19 vaccines manufactured by the company, if Canada grants them a compulsory license. Biolyse is a manufacturer of cancer drugs with the potential… Continue Reading
KEI comment on the May 5, 2021 USTR statement to support negotiations on a waiver of TRIPS rules for COVID 19 vaccines. Attributed to James Love, KEI Director +1.202.361.3040, james.love@keionline.org KEI applauds the decision by President Biden and USTR Katherine… Continue Reading
Brief to Standing Committee on International Trade and Investment Policy: Selected Consideration Concerning COVID-19 Vaccines Knowledge Ecology International James Love and Arianna Schouten 30 April 2021 This brief will discuss (1) the scope and purpose of the proposed World Trade… Continue Reading
On April 27th, a letter signed by 41 Canadian experts was sent to the Prime Minister of Canada, the Minister of Innovation, Science & Industry, and the Minister of Health. The letter requests the amendment of Schedule 1 of the… Continue Reading
On 4 December 2020, Ethiopia submitted a Zero Draft resolution to the World Health Organization (WHO) on Strengthening Local Production of Medicines and Other Health Technologies to Improve Access – WHO Resolution on Strengthening Local Production of Medicines and Other… Continue Reading
Negotiating texts for WHA 74 on local production. 4 December 2020. Concept Note (Text prepared by Ethiopia) Zero Draft resolution on Strengthening Local Production of Medicines and Other Health Technologies to Improve Access, Dec 04,2020 – WHO Resolution on Strengthening… Continue Reading
On March 11th 2021, Biolyse Pharma (“Biolyse”) issued a statement publicly indicating their capacity to manufacture a COVID-19 vaccine and their intent to apply for a compulsory license in Canada. Biolyse is a Canadian manufacturer of cancer drugs based out… Continue Reading
Whilst TRIPS Council deliberations in 2020 witnessed some lively deliberations on the nature of legislative amendments to Hungary’ special legal order (State of Danger) to enable the provision of a “compulsory licence regime for public health purposes”, Hungary’s recent decision… Continue Reading