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School of Law

UK under pressure to make drug companies put public interest before profits in race for Covid-19 vaccine.

Professor Duncan Matthews explains compulsory licensing and Crown Use in the i newspaper

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Duncan Matthews, Professor of Intellectual Property Law at Queen Mary University of London, spoke to the i newspaper about compulsory licensing and Crown Use in the i newspaper. In the piece, he said: “The UK is lagging way behind many other governments in their Covid-19 response. In March, Germany amended its federal law to make it easier to set aside patent rights and issue compulsory licences during the ongoing national emergency. Canada and Ecuador made similar changes to their patent law, while Israel set aside the patent rights on US pharmaceutical company AbbVie’s antiretroviral drug Kaletra, to make it easier to import generic versions of the drug and to treat Covid-19 patients.”

Read the full piece in the i newspaper.

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