UAEM CALLS ON INDIAN GOVERNMENT TO RECONSIDER LEGISLATION REGARDING THE PATENTING OF PUBLICLY-FUNDED RESEARCH

Berkeley, CA - Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM), an international student advocacy group, today called on the Indian government to reconsider legislation that would govern the patenting of the results of publicly funded-research including publicly-funded medical research. The goals of the legislation are unclear and as currently written, the bill would likely harm access to medicines and impede the ability of scientists to conduct innovative research.

Proponents of the Indian bill claim it will help India to commercialize publicly-funded research by encouraging research institutions to seek patents. UAEM today issued a white paper raising questions about the impacts of university patenting in the United States under the Bayh-Dole Act while offering analysis of the Indian bill. The Indian bill is modeled after the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, which encouraged research institutions to seek patents and commercialize discoveries made through publicly-funded research. While patenting has risen since the passage of Bayh-Dole, it has also expanded into areas of basic research where patents prevent other research from using basic tools to conduct life-saving research. Read more »

The application from UAEM to include a proton pump inhibitor (omeprazole) to the WHO essential medicines list is now posted. You can see the proposal for inclusion here.

Applications for other medicines are also posted here.

Special kudos and congrats to UAEMers Nicole Ramsey, Leanne Stratton, Becky Lambert and Sunny Kishore of Cornell and Matt Price of The Clinton Foundation/UAEM for driving this!

What is omeprazole?
Omeprazole is used along with two antibiotics (amoxicillin and metronidazole/clarithromycin) as part of triple therapy to eradicate Helicobacter pylori, a gut bacterium that drives ulcers and gastric cancers globally. Nearly half the world is infected with this bacterium. Note that one of the first-line antibiotics used in triple therapy, clarithromycin, is not on the essential medicines list — a gap that we were not able to address in time. A letter (but not an application) that highlights this gap accompanies the WHO petition for omeprazole.

1984 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Archbishop Desmond Tutu signed the Philadelphia Consensus Statement on Thursday, joining the call for universities to take action. Tutu signed the PCS after meeting with University of after meeting with University of Michigan UAEM members.

You can read more about this important show of support below in the University of Michigan-UAEM press release.

Archbishop Tutu joins 9 other Nobel laureates in calling for change on our university campuses. Read more »

Contact: Anjali Dalal
Email: anjali [dot] dalal [at] yale [dot] edu

For Immediate Release

STUDENTS CONVERGE ON UC BERKELEY FOR GLOBAL CONFERENCE ON ACCESS TO MEDICINES: FORMER UN SPECIAL ENVOY TO ADDRESS ROLE OF UNIVERSITIES IN COMBATING MEDICAL CRISIS

Berkeley, CA, — The Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) Fall Conference will be held in Berkeley, CA on October 17-19, 2008. Among those addressing the conference will be Stephen Lewis, former UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa and Co-Director of AIDS-Free World (www.aids-freeworld.org ) and Dr. Buddhi Lokuge, U.S Manager, Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines, Doctors Without Borders/MSF.

The UAEM Fall Conference trains new members and provides a forum for a diverse array of students to discuss access to medicines issues and strategize for the school year. This year’s activism trainings are sponsored by UAEM partner, Americans for Informed Democracy. The conference draws student leaders not only from undergraduate colleges, but also from the schools of law, medicine, business, government, public health and graduate studies at the top research institutions across the country. Last year’s conference at Harvard brought together hundreds of students from 50 campuses across the United States, Canada, and the UK.

UC Berkeley is a key center for this progress: the university was the first major research university to announce a specific “socially responsible licensing” program and continues to be an advocate for improved university licensing practices. The 2008 Conference will provide an opportunity to support and reinforce the work of UAEM’s allies on the UC Berkeley campus and throughout the UC system. The Conference will also provide a critical rallying point for UAEM’s larger developing campaign statewide.

For more information on the Conference, visit http://www.essentialmedicine.org/fall-conference/. Read more »