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...
We need a Global Vaccines Taskforce, not just a British or European one
The European Commission has been heavily criticised for its performance over Covid-19 vaccine supply to European Union Member States. Despite the urgency of the...
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...
Ellen ‘t Hoen named one of the “50 Most Influential People in IP”
For Ellen ‘t Hoen's "fierce" advocacy on access to medicine, and in particular for her efforts under the Covid-19 pandemic to ensure knowledge and...
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...
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...
How the ‘Oxford’ Covid-19 vaccine became the ‘AstraZeneca’ Covid-19 vaccine
The ‘Oxford / AstraZeneca’ vaccine is one of the world’s leading hopes in the race to end the Covid-19 pandemic. Its history is not...
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)...