Joint Comments Regarding NIH Proposed Exclusive License to Intima Biosciences for Cancer Therapy (and NIH Response)

(UPDATE: The NIH provided a response to our comments on September 26, 2019) On September 13, 2019, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI), Union for Affordable Cancer Treatment (UACT), Public Citizen (PC), Social Security Works (SSW), LWC Health, Ruth Lopert, Manon Ress,… Continue Reading

KEI Request Re: Failure to Disclose Federal Funding in UPenn Bennett et al Patents for Gene Therapy to Treat Blindness

On September 9, 2019, KEI submitted a second request to the NIH that it investigate an apparent failure to disclose federal funding in patents in adeno-associated viral (AAV) gene therapies assigned to the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn).… Continue Reading

KEI, UACT, UAEM, and SSW Appeal NIH Grant of Exclusive Licenses on CAR Cancer Therapy to Gilead/Kite

On September 12, 2019, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI), Union for Affordable Cancer Treatment (UACT), Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM), Social Security Works (SSW), and Clare Love filed an appeal with the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The signatories appealed… Continue Reading

Zolgensma

Zolgensma is a gene therapy for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) that was approved by the US FDA in May 2019, at a price of $2.1 million per patient. Zolgensma was licensed from a children’s hospital where it was developed on… Continue Reading

International Reference Pricing

KEI Briefing Note 2019:1  International Reference Pricing August 22, 2019 International Reference Pricing, often referred to as External Reference Pricing (ERP), is the practice of using a price in a foreign market as a benchmark for an acceptable price in… Continue Reading

KEI Comments on NIH Exclusive Licenses for CAR T Technologies to Kite/Gilead (and NIH Response)

(UPDATE: The NIH provided responses to our comments on August 14, 2019: 84 FR 33272  Response and  84 FR 33270 Response) On Monday July 29, 2019, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) submitted joint comments to the NIH on behalf of KEI,… Continue Reading

KEI Letter to US House Oversight Committee on NIH Misconduct and Lack of Transparency

On July 22, 2019, Knowledge Ecology International submitted a letter to the US House of Representative’s Committee on Oversight and Reform regarding the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) lack of transparency in its exclusive licensing processes. Prior to executing an… Continue Reading

Examples of SEC disclosures

The documents linked below provide examples of companies disclosing information related to drug R&D costs to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These documents are in the Google’s cloud-based Docs program. You can view and/or download them (no Google… Continue Reading

Senti Bio License for Development and Commercialization of Next Generation Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) Therapies for the Treatment of FMS-Like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) Expressing Cancers

On April 19, 2019, HealthGap, Knowledge Ecology International, Public Citizen, Social Security Works and the Union for Affordable Cancer Treatment filed comments on a proposed license on National Cancer Institute patented inventions to Senti Bio, for a next generation CAR… Continue Reading