WTO Members discuss proposal to suspend certain intellectual property protection during the Covid-19 crisis
An earlier version of this comment was published by The Wire on 13 October 2020.
On 2 October, India and South Africa sent a proposal...
Wrapping up 2022 with some noteworthy medicines, law and policy events
Welcome to our annual, highly biased, overview of noteworthy events in the field of medicines law and policy.
Also in 2022, Covid-19 remained a central...
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...
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...
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...
2018 Round-up of Noteworthy Medicines Law and Policy Events
We are reaching the end of 2018: Time for our end-of-the-year roundup of some significant developments in medicines law and policy.
January
The Chilean parliament started...
The Pandemic Agreement is here
In December 2021, the member states of the World Health Organization decided “to draft and negotiate a WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument...
Pharmaceutical Accountability Foundation is taking AbbVie to court over excessive pricing of Humira –...
On 21 February, the Dutch Pharmaceutical Accountability Foundation (PAF) took the bold step to take AbbVie to court, claiming the company’s pricing policy had...
TRIPS, technology transfer and access to pandemic countermeasures: What the WHOÂ Pandemic Treaty must...
The scrambling for access to Covid-19 vaccines by developing countries has reignited the debate on the WTO Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)...
WHO Members meet to finalise the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing Instrument
In May 2025, the WHO member states adopted the Pandemic Agreement, but they left the work to establish an instrument for Pathogen Access and...