Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Many hold the view that Gilead’s revolutionary treatment against hepatitis C (sofosbuvir) marked the beginning of a shift in position toward the high prices of medicines, as high-income countries were also faced with an untenable burden to their health systems. In a number of lower and middle-income countries, civil society organised itself to increase access to sofosbuvir for millions in need.
Government agencies do not ordinarily relinquish power easily, or without a struggle. But these are not ordinary times in the USA. Trump appointees have pushed a variety of federal agencies – including Interior, EPA, and HUD – to surrender much of their powers. Yesterday, the USPTO joined that list, when it announced proposed new regulations that would weaken the agency’s review of existing patents.
The example of Gilead antiretroviral Truvada in Argentina and Brazil shows how civil society efforts to use patent opposition to patents it felt were unjustified were rewarded by patent withdrawal and rejection, even if the situation in Brazil might not be entirely settled.
“Strong IP Drives the Bottom Line”: Licensing executives, technology transfer officers and attorneys from all over the world met under this theme at the annual conference of the Licensing Executives Society International (LESI) in San Diego from April 30 to May 1, 2018.
Each year, the LESI annual conference brings together the strategists, pioneers and deal makers of the world to exchange about the hot topics in licensing, technology transfer and the business of IP. Bastian July of GoodIP reports on what you can learn from the keynote speeches and workshops he attended.
The annual update on World Trade Organization dispute settlement was especially challenging this year due to the ongoing impasse regarding selection process to the Appellate Body. During the event, some light was shed on the “alarming consequences” of the stalemate.
In the current atmosphere in the United States of funding cuts for global health threats like malaria and HIV/AIDS by the Trump Administration, a new state-by-state analysis claims to show its profound implications for research and jobs across the country.
BANGKOK - Transnational drug manufacturers’ tactics of obtaining unmerited patent applications have unnecessarily raised healthcare costs and impeded the growth of domestic generic drug industry, costing the Thai government hundreds of millions of dollars, drug access campaigners and local producers have said.
Unitaid has issued a call for proposals to fund innovative projects that would combat the drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis, and has announced progress in development of a new anti-malaria insecticide against mosquitoes.
When the agreement on intellectual property was adopted by the World Trade Organization, a number of flexibilities were included in the text, mainly to give developing countries policy space to implement the agreement with development considerations. However, some countries through lack of awareness or economic pressure have not used those flexibilities fully, and found themselves facing difficulties addressing their public health needs, which some associate with this failure to use the flexibilities. Civil society has engaged in notable efforts to counter pressure and raise policymakers' awareness for a wider access to medicines.
This week the media reported that the Brazilian federal court removed the patent protection for eculizumab, sold under the brand name Soliris by Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. Eculizumab is used in the treatment of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), a rare and life-threatening blood disease. The product was approved by the US FDA for this indication in 2016. Brazil’s health care system spent $184.2 million to treat 442 patients with Soliris, an average of over $416,000 per patient. The patent office expects that more revocations may follow. This blog explains why this is.