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In: Meetings, Negotiations, Presentations

On May 11, 2018, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) held a “Stakeholder Listening Session” in the HHS Hubert H. Humphrey Building Auditorium, 200 Independence Ave, SW, Washington, DC 20201 to prepare for the SEVENTY-FIRST WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY A71/1 Geneva, Switzerland 21–26 May 2018 The provisional agenda for the WHA is here: http://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA71/A71_1-en.pdf The meeting went from 3pm to about 4pm and about 45 participants had 2 minutes for each intervention on the many agenda item. Most speakers represented industries such as the manufacturers or the sugar related good industries. UACT registered to take the floor for the following item: 11.7 PreparationRead More →

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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 →

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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 →