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
On March 1, 2021, KEI obtained a copy of the binding term sheet between Pfizer/BioNTech and the Dominican Republic for the supply of their COVID-19 vaccine in the country. The document, requested via the freedom of information law in the… Continue Reading
On March 1, 2021, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) sent a letter to Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the new Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) regarding the WTO’s COVID-19 response. In the letter, KEI urged Dr. Ngozi to fully step into… Continue Reading
Based on press releases and additional publicly-available information, KEI is building a dataset with a non-exhaustive list of deals that involve technology transfer and outsourcing of COVID-19 vaccines manufacturing. As of February 19, 2021, the dataset includes observations for over… Continue Reading
On Monday, 15 February 2021, the World Trade Organization’s General Council, “agreed by consensus to select Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria as the organization’s seventh Director-General” (Source: History is made: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala chosen as Director-General, 15 February 2021). Dr Ngozi is… Continue Reading
KEI has created a public listserve to discuss vaccine manufacturing scale up. (link) February 19, 2021: Roundtable on Pathways to Scale Up Manufacturing Capacity for COVID-19 Vaccines – 19. KEI has gathered data regarding vaccine manufacturing capacity in countries worldwide,… Continue Reading
On Tuesday, 26 January 2021, Dr. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission delivered a special address at “Davos Agenda Week” devoting much of her speech to the European Union’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While President von… Continue Reading
The European Commission has released a redacted version of a contract with Curevac for a COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine uses mRNA technology, similar to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. The contract is severely redacted in some areas, but some information… Continue Reading
UPDATE (16 December 2020): The WTO General Council is meeting from Wednesday, 16 December 2020 to Friday, 18 December 2020 to discuss a number of matters including e-commerce, cotton, and TRIPS Council matters. Under agenda item 13, the Chair of… Continue Reading