Blog

The latest thoughts from Medicines Law & Policy partners.

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...

It is not too late to solve the know-how problem in the WHO Pandemic...

Introduction One of the most important Intellectual Property (IP) problems which the Pandemic Accord negotiators need to solve is now in danger of being completely...

The Power of TRIPS Flexibilities in Medicines Procurement

The government of Malaysia has began to roll out treatment of people infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV).  Treatment will be a combination of...

Urgent collective action to meet the challenge of this pandemic crisis: a coronavirus related...

The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, first described the present coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak as a pandemic on the 11th...

Medicines price transparency: Ground still left to cover

Parts of this blog were previously published in the Lancet Regional Health Europe Secret medicines prices are hotly debated as European health systems struggle to...

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...

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...

New reports offer evidence for extending the WTO Decision on TRIPS to Covid-19 therapeutics...

In February 2024, the 13th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference will take place. WTO Members are expected to decide whether to extend the...

Why The Request By Least Developed Countries For An Extension Of The Transitional Period...

On 24 February 2015 Bangladesh on behalf of the 34 Least Developed Country members (LDCs) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) submitted a request...

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...