Blog

The latest thoughts from Medicines Law & Policy partners.

Lessons for a pandemic preparedness treaty from previous successes and failures with treaty-based technology...

This post can also be downloaded as a PDF here. 1.      Introduction Scaling-up production of new vaccines to provide many billions of doses on a time-scale...

The new IP strategy of war-torn Ukraine should prioritise public health and national security

Russia’s full-scale assault on Ukraine continues for the third year. The Russian occupation forces have already killed tens of thousands of civilians, including children. They have...

The European Commission’s proposal for an EU wide compulsory licensing mechanism

In 2006 the European Generics Association was seeking clarification from the European Commission on whether generic versions of oseltamivir (Tamiflu) could be supplied to...

The Power of TRIPS Flexibilities in Medicines Procurement

The government of Malaysia has began to roll out treatment of people infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV).  Treatment will be a combination of...

Current drafts of the WHO Pandemic Accord lack a provision for access to knowhow/trade...

Negotiations are currently taking place at the World Health Organization (WHO) to conclude a new pandemic agreement by May 2024. The objective of the...

Decision on intellectual property waiver over Covid technology on hold till 2021; what are...

Note: This article was edited on 19 December to include a statement from the EU supporting sharing of intellectual property, technology, and know-how transfer. The...

Dutch Court Orders AstraZeneca to Pay Damages in Patent Evergreening Case

Today the Dutch court made a long-awaited ruling in the patent evergreening case of health insurance company Menzis versus AstraZeneca. It found that AstraZeneca...

Time for new pharmaceutical-innovation models

The pharmaceutical industry is one of the most profitable on earth, expected to be worth $1.4 trillion by the end of 2020. Last year,...

The € 7.4 billion for Covid-19 product and vaccine development needs a few strings...

On 4 May 2020, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hosted the Coronavirus Global Response conference, an on-line pledging event to accelerate the...

Commission report on competition enforcement in the pharmaceutical sector

Guest author Jacquelyn D. Veraldi is Assistant Professor of European Law at the University of Groningen. Guest author Tais A. Ruiz Palacios is a...