Wrapping up 2019 – Noteworthy Medicines Law and Policy Events
2019 had its share of noteworthy medicines law and policy events. It was also a year that saw eye-popping new levels of pharmaceutical pricing....
Advanced Purchase Agreements for Covid-19 Vaccines: Do they ensure Global Public Good?
Advanced Purchase Agreements (APAs) were part of a strategy to provide upfront financing for Covid-19 vaccines and to accelerate their development and availability. Since...
Pharmaceutical Accountability Foundation meets AbbVie in court, looking to advance its pricing case
“The value of a human life is infinite, but unfortunately our healthcare budget is not,” said former Dutch Health Minister Bruno Bruins, quoted by...
FDA approval of injectable lenacapavir for Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) opens the road to ending...
On 18th June 2025, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of long-acting antiretroviral medicine lenacapavir (LEN-LA), for the prevention of...
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...
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...
The European Commission’s compulsory licensing proposals are sensible but do not go far enough
An earlier version of this comment was published in Barron's on 21 July 2023. A Spanish translation of it is also available from El...
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...
Delinkage: New proposal offers a promising way forward on access, benefit sharing during pandemics
Members of the World Health Organization (WHO) last week picked up the task of navigating an unwieldy negotiation on a Pathogen Access and Benefit...
The Most Common Misunderstanding about Compulsory Licensing
The belief that a country can only use compulsory licensing in cases of public health emergencies is a myth that has proven difficult to...