On September 19-20, the UN held a High Level Meeting to develop a global strategy to fight Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), “principally cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes.” A draft resolution was developed prior to the meeting for ratification…
Translation by Walter Britto of the Brazilian news article “Dilma defende quebra de patentes de medicamentos em discurso na ONU,” by Luciana Xavier, O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper: In her speech during the opening of United Nation’s (UN) Special Summit…
India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry has announced an agreement with the EU to setting their dispute over the seizure of Indian generic drugs in transit. The EU has agreed to adopt guidelines for its customs officials preventing them from…
Gilead has become the first pharmaceutical company to license patents it holds on antiretroviral medicines to the Medicines Patent Pool, a swiss nonprofit established by UNITAID to collect licenses for the manufacture and distribution of medicines for HIV treatment. The…
The EC has published a 22 page “synthesis” of the 380 comments it received on the Report on the Application of Directive 2004/48/EC on the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights. Roughly half of the comments came from consumers or individuals,…
UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe has warned against the inclusion of TRIPS-Plus provisions in the EU-India Free Trade Agreement that would jeopardize the continued manufacture and export of generic medicines. India currently produces the majority of antiretrovirals used in the…
On June 29, the OECD released a Communiqué on Principles for Internet Policy-Making outlining principles meant to guide nations’ policies on the internet, aimed at “ensuring that the Internet remains open and dynamic.” The communiqué emerged out of a “High…
On June 8, the UN General Assembly issued a 17-page “Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS: Intensifying our Efforts to Eliminate HIV/AIDS,” which includes statements related to TRIPS Agreement flexibilities and enforcement of IP. Paragraph 71 (b) urges countries to “apply measures…
UN Special Rapporteur Frank La Rue has issued a report to the UN General Assembly Human Rights Council stating that “the Internet has become a key means by which individuals can exercise their right to freedom of opinion and expression.” …
The World Health Assembly opens today, bringing together all of the WHO member countries for their annual meeting. The agenda includes a session on WHO’s work concerning substandard medical products, including “information and awareness creation,” “norms and standards” and “technical…
Speaking at an Indian Parliamentary committee meeting on IPRs, Minster of Commerce and Industry Shri Anand Sharma spoke out against seizures of generic medicines in the Netherlands. “These detentions of Indian generics by Europe were deemed to be TRIPS violative…
UNAIDS, UNDP, and the World Health Organization have released a policy brief describing the flexibilities in TRIPS available to increase access to medicines, including compulsory licenses, parallel imports and patentability criteria. It recommends that low and middle income countries “revise…