Blog

The latest thoughts from Medicines Law & Policy partners.

New WHO-UNITAID briefing paper: Improving Access to Covid-19 Treatments

A new briefing paper based on Medicines Law & Policy research outlines the legal instruments available for countries seeking to access key therapeutics to...

The world needs a signal that multilateralism works: ML&P opening statement to the INB13,...

Thank you for the opportunity to make a brief statement. The negotiations for the Pandemic Agreement enter the final phase. We hope and wish for...

Corbyn’s Compulsory Licenses. Will they work?

On 24 September, Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the UK Labour party, announced a series of measures to bring medicines pricing in check and to...

Thanks to the European Commission, Biogen can extend Tecfidera monopoly for at least two...

According to an investigation by Follow the Money, a Dutch investigative journalism outlet, the European Commission restored the market exclusivity of Tecfidera, a multiple...

High medicines prices in Europe – do not Brexit the people

The issues of high priced medicines and problems with access to medicines have for many years been themes belonging to the realm of global...

How patents, data exclusivity and SPCs interact to extend market exclusivity of medicines: the...

Patents usually confer 20-year exclusive rights on inventions. Data exclusivity laws confer, depending on the country, 5 to 10 years’ exclusive rights over safety...

Covid-19 and the comeback of compulsory licensing

The Covid-19 outbreak raises many questions, including some we can answer using experiences gained in previous disease outbreaks. Here is one: how to deal...

MSF’s Access Campaign is an invaluable actor in global health; shutting it down is...

On 20 June, STAT News reported that Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is closing down their Access Campaign, effective as of 31 December 2024. It...

Medicines Excitement in the Netherlands – New Health Minister announces firm action on...

The new Minister of Health of the Netherlands, Bruno Bruins, came in guns blazing when he put the pharmaceutical industry on notice and announced...

FDA approval of injectable lenacapavir for Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) opens the road to ending...

On 18th June 2025, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of long-acting antiretroviral medicine lenacapavir (LEN-LA), for the prevention of...