A new paper from the Stockholm Network on developing countries and pharmaceutical patents. In a review of the empirical literature, the report finds, among other things:

Continue reading Stockholm Network on Developing Nations & Pharma IP . . .

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 1:11 PM | International , Patents , Pharma

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The American has an article by Roger Bate assessing current compulsory licensing trends at WHO:

The drug companies have tried voice: they have pointed out the need to make some profit from middle-income markets; they have complained to governments, activists, the media, and anyone that will listen; and they have tried litigation and threats of exit. Perhaps it is time to actually try exit.

The first to take action might be Novartis. According to several sources, the company has shelved plans to build a $500 million factory in Brazil that would manufacture an anti-meningitis vaccine.

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 8:12 AM | International , Patents , Pharma

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On the changing strategies of Indian generics.

An oped on Thailand and TRIPS.

And Novartis in Thailand.

Continue reading Asian IP News Roundup . . .

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 9:42 AM | Big Tent , Books , Markets: Business, Investment & Innovation , Media: Video, Music... , Pharma

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WHO is conducting a public inquiry into Innovation, IP, and Health. Submissions may be made between the first and fifteenth of November. For information, see
http://www.who.int/phi/public_hearings/second/submission_section1/en/index.html

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 3:58 PM | International , Pharma

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Tim Wilson's "Tariffs the Real Barrier to HIV Treatment:"

Oxfam Australia lays the blame on the increasing prevalence of HIV and AIDS in the developing world on the patent system and intellectual property for drugs. The executive director, Andrew Hewett, argued in ABC News Online that Thailand provides a "model" for dealing with treatment of HIV/AIDS.

What exactly is that model? The military junta which seized control of Thailand earlier this year has nationalised the patents of a series of vital drugs. It has gone on to manufacture cheap, but extremely low-quality, drugs which have contributed towards a growing resistance to
the medicine amongst the poorest Thais.

The danger of these medicines has become so apparent that the World Health Organisation recommended that they not be sold outside of Thailand.

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 11:03 AM | Pharma

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Don't Fix It. No, really. Really, really don't.

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 10:53 AM | Big Tent , Patents , Pharma

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Over the past couple of months, the press has been full of articles on the threats against patents by Thailand, Brazil, and other third world nations.

But it is also full of articles on other pharma themes, mostly involving a sclerotic U.S. FDA. To wit:

(1) The FDA's recent refusal to approve two promising cancer drugs that came close, but did not quite meet, the statistical standards of efficacy, even though there are no alternative treatments, the drugs have no side effects, and the expert advisory committees strongly favored approval;

(2) The FDA's assertion of authority to refuse to approve a drug that it regarded as a "me too" drug, one that duplicated the benefits of an existing one, even though, one might think, competition should be regarded as a good thing;

(3) The FDA's penchant for pulling drugs off the market at the least threat of possible adverse effects, even if suffering patients do not have good alternatives and are willing to run the risks involved.

One would think that Thailand, Brazil, etc., would regard this situation as an opportunity. Increase, rather than decrease, IP protection, install a 21st century regulatory system instead of a 20th (if not 19th) century model, and watch the companies and the patients beat a path to your door, on the theory that what works in SE Asia cannot long be withheld from U.S. consumers.

Southeast Asia is already becoming known for "medical tourism," in the context of surgery. Why not pharmaceuticals as well?

(For lots of material, see WSJ.com, passim, but a subscription is required.)

posted by James DeLong @ 8:46 AM | Pharma

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The latest issue of the Stockholm Network's Know IP (Feb. 2007) has lots of good stuff:

"Questions to the Government of Thailand" – Helen Disney and Dr. Meir P. Pugatch
"The Economics of DRM in Capitalist Markets" – Dr. Meir P. Pugatch
"For SMEs but Without Consulting Them? A Critique of the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property" – John Mitchell
"Patents and Measuring Competitiveness: Reflections on Living with a Huge New Database" – Kevin Scally

posted by James DeLong @ 8:19 AM | DRM & Watermarks, etc. , International , Patents , Pharma

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Some reports of the compulsory licensing decisions in Thailand.

Financial Times, Thais Warn of Switch to Generic Medicines.

Philip Stevens of the International Policy Network warns of the risk to patients in The Nation.

From the Wall Street Journal, Theft in Thailand.

Continue reading Thai Compulsory Licensing Roundup . . .

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 7:55 AM | Patents , Pharma

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Many drugs in development, very few approvals. A problem requiring regulatory reform.

A report on the state of global health as private and public money floods health coffers. A problem requiring addressing problems with infrastructure, corruption, a lack of market forces (or any other sort of accountability) in most of the world's state-run health systems, and last but not least, the tendency of aid (private or public) to distort the local economy for the good in question.

A case in point, the problems of national health care systems revealed in Canadian piece on the low cost of making drugs--and the high cost of developing them. More lack of accountability (market forces) in national health care systems.

Thailand breaks more patents. Short run over long run--a disaster all around.

A report on global pharma counterfeits. Already illegal, a problem at the enforcement level.

What it all boils down to: Worldwide, there is a rush to legislate results (people need medicine, after all--safe medicine) at the expense of any kind of attention to the market process at beginning, middle, or end. Let's hope it doesn't occur to any of these people that we need food as well as medicine, or we'll lost market forces there, too--the much-complained of distortion of agricultural subsidies being minimal by comparison.

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