WIPO and pharma industry launch global medicines patent database
On 25 September, the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in collaboration with the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) launched the Patent...
Corbyn’s Compulsory Licenses. Will they work?
On 24 September, Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the UK Labour party, announced a series of measures to bring medicines pricing in check and to...
Medicines Law & Policy welcomes WHO’s Solidarity Call to Action to realise equitable global...
The World Health Organization today with Costa Rica launched the "COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP)" to ensure that knowledge, data and intellectual property are...
Some Surprises in the European Commission’s New Intellectual Property Strategy
The European Commission's new intellectual property (IP) strategy is out and it holds a number of surprises for access to medicines. After restating the...
Dutch Health Care Institute Says No to Medicines Pirate
It seems the Dutch health care system and health care professionals are fed up with the abuse of the orphan medicines regulation, which is...
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...
The Waiver that Wasn’t: Is the pharma lobby responsible?
Systemic lobbying pressure from pharmaceutical companies – allegedly attached to threats to withdraw investments – may have been responsible for the watering down of...
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...
WHO Fair Pricing Forum: Watching for Drug Industry Accountability
by Katrina Perehudoff and Jennifer Sellin
Expensive medicines are a ubiquitous challenge from which no government is immune. Excessive price hikes are an urgent human...
European Commission Publishes Expert Panel’s Recommendations on High Drug Prices
This month the European Commission published Innovative Payment Models for High-Cost Innovative Medicines, a report of the Expert Panel on effective ways of investing...