Cystic Fibrosis Medicines Wars in Europe
Monday 4 February, the UK parliament will debate the issuing of a compulsory licence by the government, called ‘Crown use’, for the cystic fibrosis...
Time to put a stop to the abuse of orphan drug regulation- the latest...
Today, the Dutch Medical Journal (Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde) reported on the case of lutetium-octreotaat, a cancer drug developed by researchers in the Dutch...
Access to medicines amendment of the WTO TRIPS Agreement. Hype or hope?
On 30 January 2017 the World Trade Organization (WTO) announced the first ever amendment to the TRIPS Agreement under the headline WTO members welcome...
The Expanding Reach of the European Patent Office. Good for Health?
The European Patent Office (EPO) is tasked with the examination of patent applications and the granting of patents when these applications meet the patentability...
Wrapping up 2025: A tumultuous year for global public health law & policy
The end of 2025, a tumultuous year for global public health, is here, and it’s time for the usually highly biased Medicines Law &...
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...
What is the ‘know-how gap’ problem and how might it impact scaling up production...
This entire article is also available as a PDF by clicking here.
1. Introduction.
How relevant are concerns about intellectual property rights causing problems for...
The elephant in the room at the WHO Executive Board
The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus spoke harshly about the lack of Covid-19 vaccines in developing countries at the opening of...
Brazil’s Federal Court Reviews Medicines Mailbox Patents
This week the media reported that the Brazilian federal court removed the patent protection for eculizumab, sold under the brand name Soliris by Alexion...
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...