[Ip-health] Bloomberg: Harvard, Yale, Three Schools Back Drug Policies to Help Poor

[Kevin Outterson]

The press release and the Statement of Principles can be found here:

http://www.bu.edu/phpbin/news-cms/news/?dept=3D634&id=3D54826&template=3D16=
3

Kevin Outterson
BU Law


On 11/10/09 12:43 AM, "Ethan Guillen" <ethan.guillen@essentialmedicine.org>
wrote:

> --
> [ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
> Following years of advocacy by UAEM and partners, a number of important
> research institutions have adopted new licensing principles to improve
> access to university discovered medicines in developing countries.  We
> welcome this important step and the institutions involved deserve to be
> recognized for their actions.  There are important shortcomings to the
> principles.  However, the universities have pledged themselves to metrics=
 to
> monitor the implementation of the principles and a regular review process=
 of
> the principles.  UAEM only very recently received the document; we will h=
ave
> a fuller analysis available in the coming days.
>
>
> http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=3D20601103&sid=3Daa23AHBWnxew
>
> Harvard, Yale, Three Schools Back Drug Policies to Help Poor
> By John Lauerman
>
> Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Harvard University, Yale University and three other
> schools are pledging to encourage companies to give poor countries better
> access to drugs and medical products based on discoveries made on their
> campuses.
>
> Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Yale in New Haven, Connecticut; Brow=
n
> University in Providence, Rhode Island; the University of Pennsylvania in
> Philadelphia; and Boston University in Boston will release the statement
> today, which will guide how drugs developed by scientists at the schools =
are
> licensed to companies, said, a spokesman for Harvard. The schools signed =
the
> statement after campus student groups pushed for policies to make new dru=
gs
> available at low cost to poor patients.
>
> The statement commits the schools to make =B3vigorous efforts=B2 to promo=
te
> global access to drugs through licensing strategies. The five schools sai=
d
> that, for example, they=B9ll work to include provisions in licenses that =
call
> for lower prices in poor countries. They=B9ll also use strategies such as
> decreasing their own royalty rates to persuade companies to cut prices or
> allow low-cost generic production of new drugs for poor patients, the
> statement said.
>
> =B3We agree that it=B9s important that our intellectual property doesn=B9=
t serve
> as a barrier -- and in some cases should be used as leverage -- to help
> ensure that drugs, vaccines and other technologies reach the developing
> world,=B2 Maryanne Fenerjian, Harvard=B9s director of technology-transfer
> policy, said in an interview. =B3But there is no single solution. Every
> technology is different and every licensee=B9s capabilities and sensitivi=
ties
> are different.=B2
>
> Academic Innovation
>
> Academic researchers=B9 findings provide the technological basis for
> innovation for virtually every biotechnology company in the world, said J=
ohn
> Maraganore<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=3DJohn+Maraganore&site=3D=
wnews&cli
> ent=3Dwnews&proxystylesheet=3Dwnews&output=3Dxml_no_dtd&ie=3DUTF-8&oe=3DU=
TF-8&filter=3Dp&g
> etfields=3Dwnnis&sort=3Ddate:D:S:d1>,
> Chief Executive Officer of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
> Inc<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=3DALNY%3AUS>.
> in Cambridge. He said he hadn=B9t known that Harvard was developing the
> statement.
>
> =B3I=B9m concerned about this type of action taking place unilaterally fo=
r a
> major source of inventions for the world,=B2 he said. =B3I think it=B9s v=
ery
> important to have a dialogue to get this right.=B2
>
> Harvard officials want to craft guidelines that encourage drug access for
> poor nations without dissuading companies from working with university
> scientists, said Fenerjian. Many of the techniques cited in the document
> have already been used by Harvard to help promote access to drugs, Fenerj=
ian
> said.
>
> Student Group
>
> An international student group called Universities Allied for Essential
> Medicines <http://www.essentialmedicine.org/>, supported by the Ford
> Foundation, has been asking schools to help broaden access to drugs for
> about seven years. In 2001, members of the group pushed Yale and
> drugmaker Bristol-Myers
> Squibb <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=3DBMY%3AUS> to permit
> generic production of its AIDS drug Zerit in South Africa, so that it can=
 be
> sold at a lower price. About one in
> six<http://www.avert.org/safricastats.htm> South
> African adults is infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
>
> Harvard=B9s chapter of Essential Medicines held demonstrations on campus =
in
> favor of increased drug access in September. Supporters erected giant pil=
l
> bottles on campus and wore =B3Say Yes to Drugs=B2 T-shirts to raise aware=
ness of
> the issue, and held a fund-raising dance, said Jillian Irwin, a member of
> Harvard=B9s chapter.
>
> They collected more than 1,000 signatures in the past week, petitioning
> Harvard to put in place a licensing policy that would increase access in
> poor nations. Harvard students also met with Provost Steven
> Hyman<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=3DSteven+Hyman&site=3Dwnews&cl=
ient=3Dwnew
> s&proxystylesheet=3Dwnews&output=3Dxml_no_dtd&ie=3DUTF-8&oe=3DUTF-8&filte=
r=3Dp&getfields
> =3Dwnnis&sort=3Ddate:D:S:d1>
> and
> Harvard School of Public Health Dean Julio Frenk earlier this year to ask
> for action on the issue, Irwin said.
>
> New Revenue
>
> Harvard hired Chief Technology Development Officer Isaac
> Kohlberg<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=3DIsaac%0AKohlberg&site=3Dw=
news&clie
> nt=3Dwnews&proxystylesheet=3Dwnews&output=3Dxml_no_dtd&ie=3DUTF-8&oe=3DUT=
F-8&filter=3Dp&ge
> tfields=3Dwnnis&sort=3Ddate:D:S:d1>
> away
> from New York University four years ago and began expanding the Office of
> Technology Development to put more campus research to use. The school is
> trying to raise revenue from new sources after its endowment lost about a
> third of its value last year, said Michael
> Smith<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=3DMichael+Smith&site=3Dwnews&c=
lient=3Dwne
> ws&proxystylesheet=3Dwnews&output=3Dxml_no_dtd&ie=3DUTF-8&oe=3DUTF-8&filt=
er=3Dp&getfield
> s=3Dwnnis&sort=3Ddate:D:S:d1>,
> dean of Harvard=B9s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the school=B9s biggest
> division, in a speech in September.
>
> Kohlberg is trying to catch up with the licensing success of universities
> such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also in Cambridge. MIT
> granted 67 licenses in fiscal year 2009, which ended June 30, and got $66=
.3
> million in royalty income, according to the school Web site. In the same
> year, Harvard sold 36
> licenses<http://www.techtransfer.harvard.edu/mediacenter/annuals/stats/>,
> raising $12.4 million in revenue. In fiscal year 2008, Harvard sold 26
> licenses and raised $21.1 million.
>
> =8CHelpful=B9 Involvement
>
> Harvard=B9s licensing officials have been meeting with students for as lo=
ng as
> four years to discuss the drug-access issue, Casey said. Their involvemen=
t
> in the licensing issue, which has become more intense this year, has been
> =B3helpful,=B2 he said.
>
> =B3There=B9s been a convergence of interest,=B2 Casey said. =B3The studen=
ts have
> constructively engaged in an area that happens to align with one that the
> administration at the provost level and below has been concerned about.=
=B2
>
> Students at the 373-year-old school have scrutinized other relationships
> between Harvard faculty and industry. Earlier this year, students at Harv=
ard
> Medical School pushed to require faculty to reveal their financial ties t=
o
> companies before lecturing.
>
> Irwin, from the Harvard chapter of Essential Medicines, said the group
> stepped up pressure on the licensing issue earlier this year after a
> February speech by Andrew
> Witty<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=3DAndrew+Witty&site=3Dwnews&cl=
ient=3Dwnew
> s&proxystylesheet=3Dwnews&output=3Dxml_no_dtd&ie=3DUTF-8&oe=3DUTF-8&filte=
r=3Dp&getfields
> =3Dwnnis&sort=3Ddate:D:S:d1>,
> Chief Executive Officer of London-based GlaxoSmithKline
> Plc,<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=3DGSK%3ALN> the
> world=B9s No. 2 drugmaker. Witty said the company would cut prices for it=
s
> drugs in the world=B9s 50 poorest countries, and that it would share pate=
nts
> on technologies that might address health problems in poor countries.
>
> Preserving Incentives
>
> Alnylam, which has licensed a drugmaking technology called RNA interferen=
ce
> that stops individual genes from making proteins are key to diseases
> including cancer, nerve disorders and lung infections, OK? was one of a
> number of companies that agreed along with Glaxo to share intellectual
> property, Maraganore said.
>
> =B3It=B9s very appropriate to promote mechanisms whereby medicines become=
 more
> available in parts of the world where they=B9re needed,=B2 he said. =B3At=
 the same
> time, it=B9s critical to preserve the incentives to discover those medici=
nes
> in the first place.=B2
>
> Since the June meeting, members of Essential Medicines haven=B9t been inv=
ited
> to participate in the discussions, according to Irwin. Students haven=B9t=
 seen
> a draft of the guidelines and don=B9t know whether they=B9re strong enoug=
h to
> make a difference in the cost of new medical technologies in the developi=
ng
> world, she said.
>
> =8CConcrete Policy=B9
>
> =B3We=B9re asking for a concrete policy,=B2 said Irwin, a junior at Harva=
rd who
> majors in social and cognitive neuroscience. =B3We want to know the provi=
sions
> that will be included in different types of licenses, and how this policy
> will be incorporated into them.=B2
>
> Schools can=B9t guarantee that access-promoting provisions will be
> incorporated into every license agreement, said Harvard=B9s Fenerjian. Sc=
hools
> don=B9t always have the bargaining power to include access provisions in =
their
> agreements with companies, which often pay hundreds of millions of dollar=
s
> to develop new drugs and are highly selective in which ones they license,
> she said.
>
> More schools will be invited to sign on to the guidelines, she said.
>
> =B3A number of institutions have been willing to be tough and creative on
> these issues,=B2 she said. =B3Until now, we haven=B9t had a statement say=
s this is
> what we see as our goal, this is what we see as our new norm.=B2
>
> To contact the reporter on this story: John
> Lauerman<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=3DJohn+Lauerman&site=3Dwnew=
s&client=3D
> wnews&proxystylesheet=3Dwnews&output=3Dxml_no_dtd&ie=3DUTF-8&oe=3DUTF-8&f=
ilter=3Dp&getfi
> elds=3Dwnnis&sort=3Ddate:D:S:d1>
> in
> Boston at jlauerman@bloomberg.net.
> *Last Updated: November 9, 2009 00:02 EST*
> *
> *
>
>
> --
> Ethan Guillen
> Universities Allied for Essential Medicines
> 2625 Alcatraz Ave. #180
> Berkeley, CA 94705
> www.essentialmedicine.org
> _______________________________________________
> Ip-health mailing list
> Ip-health@lists.essential.org
> http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/ip-health