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The Union for Affordable Cancer Treatment (UACT) welcomes the news that a Russian court has approved a compulsory license for patents held by Celgene for the cancer drug lenalidomide, marketed in many countries under the trade name Revlimid. Compulsory licenses on patents can promote health and protect the interests of cancer patients when there is excessive pricing and other abuses of a legal monopoly. Since entering the market, Revlimid has generated more than $46 billion in sales for Celgene, including $2.3 billion in the first three months of 2018. In the United States, Celgene still claims the drug is protected by 26 patented inventions andRead More →

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On June 8, 2018 Miroslav Lajčák (Slovak Republic), President of the United Nations General Assembly circulated the zero-draft of the Political Declaration of the third high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Italy (Ambassador Sebastiano Cardi) and Uruguay (Ambassador Elbio Rosselli) have served as the co-facilitators of this negotiation. The zero draft is the initial negotiating text framing the UN’s response to addressing the public health crisis of NCDs globally. Analogous to the high-level process for tuberculosis, this text will be the subject of intense negotiations with countries adding and deleting text over the next four weeks.Read More →

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On March 12, 2018, UACT joined 15 other organizations in the United States and Korea in a letter to the United States Trade Representative, urging the administration to ignore the wishes of pharmaceutical lobbyists and to not interfere with patient access to medicines in Korea. Recently, Korea has passed legislation aimed at lowering drug prices and increasing the government’s negotiating power. Pharmaceutical corporations have taken notice, and through the industry lobbyist group PhRMA (Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America), have pressured the U.S. government to retaliate against the country in trade negotiations. In its submission to the USTR’s yearly “Special 301” review of intellectual property protection in otherRead More →

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On March 9, 2018, the Chile Ministry of Health issued two documents outlining its decision to recommend a compulsory license on hepatitis C virus (HCV) drug patents. The hepatitis C virus can lead to cancer of the liver and other serious and life threatening health issues. The new drugs to treat HCV are effective for many patients, but in many countries are so expensive that access is limited. When patent barriers are overcome, affordable generic versions of the drugs are available, and treatment access is dramatically improved. Dr. Gilberto Lopes, a member of UACT and also of the UACT Expert Advisory Board offered this statementRead More →

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On Thursday March 8, 2018, the Union for Affordable Cancer Treatment delivered the following testimony at the hearing for the 2018 Special 301 list.  The testimony was delivered by Dr. Manon Ress. To see previous UACT written submissions and testimonies to the Special 301 review process, please visit our page on our work concerning the Office of the US Trade Representative. Prepared statement of UACT (PDF), for March 8, 2018 hearing on the USTR Special 301 list Docket No. USTR-2017-0024 My name is Manon Ress. I am speaking today on behalf of the Union for Affordable Cancer Treatment, which filed comments in this docket onRead More →