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...
Medicines Law & Policy’s director, Ellen ’t Hoen, receives high Netherlands honour for her...
Ellen 't Hoen has been appointed Officer of the Order of Oranje-Nassau, a royal award which recognises those who merit particular appreciation from society...
Socially Responsible Licensing of Medical Technologies
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND: On 31 October, the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) held their...
Medicines price transparency: Ground still left to cover
Parts of this blog were previously published in the Lancet Regional Health Europe
Secret medicines prices are hotly debated as European health systems struggle to...
Something is going terribly wrong with the EU Compulsory Licensing Regulation
This week the European Parliament will vote on amendments to the Commission’s proposed regulation of the European Parliament and the Council on compulsory licensing...
Are gene-editing therapies patentable? A WIPO side event investigates.
On 6 December, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) organised an interesting panel on the patentability of new gene- and cell-based medical therapies, as a side...
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...
How not to solve a crisis: The European Commission’s Plan for Transferable Data Exclusivity...
Drug-resistant infections, sometimes called “superbugs,” killed an estimated 1.27 million people in 2019, a number set to rise to 50 million by 2050. It is...
WHO’s Essential Medicines Committee takes aim at rising prices, adds new treatments for cancer...
On 1 October, the World Health Organization published its latest Model List of Essential Medicines (EML) and Essential Medicines for Children (EMLc). Updated roughly...
Dutch Minister of Health writes open letter to pharma, threatens to name and shame
"Dear Pharma," writes the Dutch Minister of Health, Bruno Bruins in an open letter in the daily newspaper the Volkskrant, "Last week two messages jumped...