Cherry blossom

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...

The EU proposed Covid waivers of certain TRIPS rules are mostly meaningless

Since October 2020, discussions have been ongoing at the World Trade Organization’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Council about a waiver of...

UN High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines calls for stronger public leadership in innovation...

The UN High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines published its report on 14 September. The Panel was established on 19 November 2015 by UN...

The US NIH will share technology with WHO to fight the pandemic

The US National Institutes of Health today committed to sharing several technologies with a World Health Organization body tasked with increasing access to Covid-19...

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...

“Mutually agreed terms and conditions,” says it all.

On 4 March, Politico reported that the Polish presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) is expressing doubt that the Pandemic Agreement...

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...

Human Rights Watch: All governments should endorse the WHO C-TAP Solidarity Call to Action

As the race towards a Covid-19 vaccine continues – with 11 leading candidates in phase 3 clinical trials, 14 more in phase 2 and...

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...

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...