By:
On:
In: Actions

On Tuesday April 9, 2024, the Union for Affordable Cancer Treatment (UACT), Knowledge Ecology International (KEI), and Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) requested that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) use the rights afforded to the government in 35 U.S.C. § 202 and 28 U.S.C. § 1498 on patents on the prostate cancer drug Xtandi (enzalutamide). As noted in the request letter, “The U.S. government has a “world wide nonexclusive, nontransferrable, irrevocable, paid-up license to practice or have practiced for or on behalf of the United States any subject invention throughout the world” (35 USC § 202(c)(4)). This worldwide paid-up license canRead More →

By:
On:
In: Actions, News, Statements

As COVID-19 continues to spread across the world, cancer patients, their doctors and families are struggling to find more information about how COVID-19 could affect them. From what is currently reported, cancer patients are a highly vulnerable group but we do not know yet how vulnerable. We know that cancer and cancer treatments can weaken a patient’s immune systems but there are not many data points, nor test results yet. What is most needed today is collaboration and openness. UACT signed this Open Letter to the World Health Organization (WHO) and its Member States on the proposal by Costa Rica to create a global poolRead More →

By:
On:
In: Actions, Negotiations

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 →

By:
On:
In: Actions

On October 31, 2018 UACT sent the following letter to President Trump regarding his statements about protections for pre-existing conditions in the lead up to the midterm elections. A PDF of the letter is available here.   Union for Affordable Cancer Treatment 1621 Connecticut Avenue NW Suite 500 Washington, DC 20009 Tel.: 202.332.2670 www.uact.org October 31, 2018 President Donald Trump The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 President Trump, I am writing on behalf of the Union for Affordable Cancer Treatment (UACT) to say that we are appalled that you are now claiming that the Republican party will protect patients with pre-existingRead More →

By:
On:
In: Actions

Today, Kayla Gu, MS1 at UCLA spoke to the University of California Board of Regents on behalf of Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM), Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) and the Union for Affordable Cancer Treatment (UACT). She urged UCLA to drop the patent claim in India on enzalutamide (Xtandi) that would bar affordable access to a lifesaving prostate cancer drug. Kayla knows the story of Xtandi quite well: she presented on the topic at Los Angeles Global Health Conference 2018: Looking In, Looking Out: Balancing Global and Local Priorities in the Current Political Climate on February 3, 2018 and in the following blog: The StoryRead More →