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On October 1, 2021, the World Health Organization issued a report on the 22nd Model Essential Medicines List (EML). The new list added four new drugs for cancer, including enzalutamide, but also illustrated the role of high prices as a barrier to access. The WHO noted in a press release that: “A group of antibodies that enhance the immune response to tumour cells, called PD-1 / PD-L1 immune-checkpoint inhibitors, were not recommended for listing for the treatment of a number of lung cancers, despite being effective, mainly because of their exceedingly high price and concerns that they are difficult to manage in low-resourced health systems.Read More →

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On Friday July 9, 2021, the Union for Affordable Cancer Treatment (UACT) and Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) filed joint comments with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) regarding a prospective exclusive license for a cancer therapy technology. The Federal Register notice titled, “Prospective Grant of an Exclusive Patent License: Development and Commercialization of Monospecific CD22 Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) Therapies for the Treatment of B-Cell Malignancies” (86 FR 33326), outlined that the technology is to be licensed to Syncopation Life Sciences Inc. (Syncopation), which is based in Palo Alto, CA. The technology is an anti-CD22 CAR therapy, which has been shown to be effective inRead More →

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The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a part of the US Department of Commerce, proposed a slate of detrimental changes to regulations in the Bayh-Dole Act governing “Rights to Federally Funded Inventions and Licensing of Government Owned Invention.” The public was given the opportunity to comment on the proposed changes, and by the close of the comment period on April 5, 2021 NIST had received over 81,000 comments on the issue. The proposed changes cover a variety of areas that impact policies concerning access to medicines and drug pricing, including patients’ rights to challenge the government’s grant of a taxpayer-funded invention to aRead More →

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DATE: Thursday May 9, 2019 RE: Civil Society Open Letter Regarding Harmful Changes to WHA Transparency Resolution 9 May 2019 – Today more than 100 civil society organizations and health experts sent an open letter to World Health Organization (WHO) Member State delegates urging them to oppose harmful proposed changes to the draft World Health Assembly (WHA) resolution on transparency to be discussed at the 72nd WHA on May 20-28, 2019 in Geneva, Switzerland. The groups and individuals signing the open letter said they were appalled at proposals put forth at informal negotiations at the WHO on Tuesday May 7, 2019, which, “would make thisRead More →

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On Monday May 6, 2019, the Union for Affordable Cancer Treatment (UACT) submitted a letter to the Minister of Health urging Canada’s support of a proposed resolution on transparency to be discussed that the Seventy-second World Health Assembly this May. The proposed resolution provides a strong global mandate to expand the transparency of pricing, R&D costs, intellectual property rights and medical outcomes, for life-saving medical technologies. Currently, the resolution has garnered ten co-sponsors. See below for links to: UACT Letter to MOH of Canada Urging Support of WHA Transparency Resolution Draft of WHA72 Transparency Resolution (as of May 6, 2019) Text of the letter sentRead More →