Can A Surge In Activism Defeat American Big Pharma? 22/08/2018 by Guest contributor for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Vinayak Bhardwaj – Not a day passes in America without news of a drug company raising prices on prescription drugs. Americans pay two to six times more for prescription drugs than those living in other developed countries, who earn the same income.
Civil Society And TRIPS Flexibilities Series – Translations Now Available 20/08/2018 by Intellectual Property Watch, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Patients around the world, in developing and developed countries, are encountering barriers to access to affordable medical products, in part due to patents and resulting high prices. This is occurring despite longstanding protections built into international trade rules to allow smaller economies to act on behalf of their people and make such medical products available regardless of patents. These protections are often referred to as flexibilities in the 1994 World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The prevailing view is that knowledge, understanding and use of them remains limited among policymakers and many potential beneficiaries, even as patent-strong nations and their industries work to narrow the reach and ability to use these flexibilities. In the face of this, global civil society in recent years have increasingly begun work to change the direction of this trend, with the ultimate goal of helping people everywhere – but particularly poor populations – obtain drugs they need that exist but are out of their reach. Now, the series of Intellectual Property Watch stories on this subject sponsored by Make Medicines Affordable have been translated into five languages.
Report – Patent Abuse A Leading Cause Of High Drug Prices In US 03/08/2018 by Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Pharmaceutical companies have created an “untenable” situation by engaging in exploitative patenting practices to extend monopolies, increasing drug prices and delaying competition from more affordable generics, according to a new NGO report analysing drug prices.
New EPO Chief Outlines Priorities With Global Focus; Staff Wary But Hopeful 30/07/2018 by Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Antonio Campinos, whose term as president of the European Patent Office began on 1 July, has said he wants to focus on the effectiveness of the organisation, greater global cooperation and “staff engagement.”
Negotiations On UN Tuberculosis Declaration Still Open, Reports Say 27/07/2018 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments Negotiations for a United Nations declaration on ending tuberculosis had drawn to a close earlier this week, with the United States seeming to succeed on a hardline position to keep mention of intellectual property rights and affordability of medicines out of the text. But nongovernmental reports say the draft has not been accepted by all members and that negotiations will have to be reopened.
Stakeholders Submit Views On South Africa Copyright Amendment 27/07/2018 by Linda Daniels for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The call for public comments on the Copyright Amendment Bill by South Africa’s Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry attracted a wide range of interest and contributions from local and international IP stakeholders.
NGOs: Countries Pressured To Drop Reference To Affordable Medicines In UN TB Negotiations 20/07/2018 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments United Nations members in the final days of negotiating the text of the declaration for a late September high-level meeting on tuberculosis have come under pressure from the United States to omit language referring to the importance of making affordable medicines available to patients in need, according to an urgent bulletin today from a health advocacy group.
Oppositions Filed Against Gilead Hepatitis C Patent Applications In India 20/07/2018 by Gaensly Joseph for Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments Oppositions have been filed in India against two patent applications from US pharmaceutical company Gilead for important hepatitis C medicines, according to non-governmental sources. The opposition filings assert that these applications are “evergreening” patents and therefore violate Indian patent law.
Deadline Looms For Comments On New Clauses In South African Copyright Amendment Bill 13/07/2018 by Linda Daniels for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment South Africa’s Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry in Parliament has published a list of select clauses of the Copyright Amendment Bill for public comment. The deadline for comments is 18 July.
UN Launches High-Level Panel On Digital Cooperation, Led By Melinda Gates And Jack Ma 12/07/2018 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The United Nations today announced it has launched a high-level panel on digital cooperation, co-chaired by Melinda Gates (wife of Bill Gates of software titan Microsoft), and Jack Ma, head of China’s e-commerce titan Alibaba Group. The 20-member panel will “identify policy, research and information gaps, and make proposals to strengthen international cooperation in the digital space,” according to a release.