The European Commission says Covid-19 vaccines should be global public goods, but do their...
The European Commission has entered into advance purchase agreements (APAs) for Covid-19 vaccines with six pharmaceutical companies and is concluding negotiations with two companies....
The elephant in the room at the WHO Executive Board
The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus spoke harshly about the lack of Covid-19 vaccines in developing countries at the opening of...
Wrapping up 2020 with some noteworthy medicines, law and policy events
Wrapping up the year 2020 can’t happen soon enough. This year, one way or the other, most people on the planet have been affected...
Decision on intellectual property waiver over Covid technology on hold till 2021; what are...
Note: This article was edited on 19 December to include a statement from the EU supporting sharing of intellectual property, technology, and know-how transfer.
The...
What is the ‘know-how gap’ problem and how might it impact scaling up production...
This entire article is also available as a PDF by clicking here.
1. Introduction.
How relevant are concerns about intellectual property rights causing problems for...
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...
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...
Dutch Court Orders AstraZeneca to Pay Damages in Patent Evergreening Case
Today the Dutch court made a long-awaited ruling in the patent evergreening case of health insurance company Menzis versus AstraZeneca. It found that AstraZeneca...
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...
TRIPS Council to discuss IP and the public interest in the context of Covid-19
The search for new treatments and vaccines needed to respond to the Covid-19 outbreak has laid bare some key issues around intellectual property (IP)...