Fair Medicines Pricing requires addressing monopolies and increasing transparency in pharmaceutical markets

The 4th WHO Fair Pricing Forum took place from 6 - 8 February 2024. Ellen 't Hoen spoke at the opening plenary. Below are...

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...

Updated TRIPS Flexibilities Database

In January 2023, a number of cystic-fibrosis patient organisations asked the governments of Brazil, India, South Africa and Ukraine to invoke compulsory licensing and...
Generic lumacaftor/ivacaftor

Cystic Fibrosis Buyers Club Shows the UK Government The Way

The move by a group of parents of children with cystic fibrosis (CF) to set up a buyers club to gain access to treatments...

WHO is an essential forum for debates on intellectual property and public health

Recently, Health Policy Watch reported that some European countries at the World Health Organization (WHO) Pandemic Agreement negotiations maintain that intellectual property negotiations belong...

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...

Strong call for transparency on medicine prices, cost of R&D at WHO Fair Pricing...

“Medical innovation has little social value if most people cannot access its benefits…. this is a global human rights issue,” said Mariângela Simão, Assistant...

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 &...

EU Review of Pharmaceutical Incentives: Recommendations for Change

In 2016, the European Council decided it was time for a review of the incentives that the EU provides to companies that develop new...

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...