Faculty Directory

Selected Works

• Selected Articles

  • "MPP COVID-19 Antiviral Medicines Licenses – Licensed Territories, Supply Options for Excluded Territories, and Supply Barriers Arising from Trade-Secret Transfer," Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series 106. (2023) (co-author).
  • “A Medical Countermeasures Platform for Future Pandemics: Essential Elements for Equity,” Lancet Global Health (forthcoming, 2023) (co-author).
  • “Calls for Transparency in Pandemic Accord Talks,” The Lancet (April 15, 2023).
  • “From Business as Usual to Health for the Future: Challenging the Intellectual Property Regime to Address COVID-19 and Future Pandemics,” 41 Boston University International Law Journal 1 (2023) (co-author). 
  • “Pandemic Preparedness and Response: Beyond the WHO's Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator” 8 BMJ Global Health Journal (January 2023) (co-author). 
  • “A Pandemic Treaty for Equitable Global Access to Medical Countermeasures: Seven Recommendations for Sharing Intellectual Property, Know-how and Technology,” 7 BMJ Journal (July 2022) (co-author).
  • “TRIPS-Compliant Alternatives for Overcoming Intellectual Property Barriers to COVID-19 Countermeasures,” PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series No. 76 (2022)
  • “Hamstringing the Health Technology Response to Covid-19: The Burdens of Exclusivity and Policy Solutions,” 13 Northeastern University Law Review 409 (2021).
  • “A Full Description of WTO TRIPS Flexibilities Available to ARIPO Member States and Critique Of ARIPO’s Comparative Study Analyzing and Making Recommendations Concerning Those Flexibilities,” 1-41 (March 5, 2019).
  • “Trump Grabs Women’s Uteruses at Home and Abroad,”  Health GAP Blog (February 25, 2019).
  • “A Sliver of Hope: Analyzing Voluntary Licenses to Accelerate Affordable Access to Medicines,” 10 Northeastern University Law Review 226 (2018).
  • “The Incredible Shrinking Victory: Eli Lilly v. Canada, Success, Judicial Reversal, and Continuing Threats from Pharmaceutical ISDS,” 49 Loyola Chicago Law Journal 479 (2017) (co-author).
  • "Data Exclusivity Exceptions and Compulsory Licensing to Promote Generic Medicines in the European Union: A Proposal for Greater Coherence in European Pharmaceutical Legislation,"Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice (2017) (co-author).
  • “Amicus Curiae Submission Eli Lilly and Company v. The Government of Canada,” UNCITRAL, ICSID Case No. UNCT/14/2 (June 8, 2016) (with others).
  • “Eli Lilly’s ISDS Patent Claim Against Canada Defeated,”Madhyam (April 6, 2017).
  • “The Battle for Access to Medicines for All,” The Lancet (January 28, 2017).
  • "Durban Reflections #1: The Threat of Big Pharma's Monopoly Unbound," Health Gap (July 21, 2016).
  • “Risky Medicine: Why FDI in India’s Generic Drugs Industry Could be a Bad Idea,” The Wire (July 20, 2016).
  • “Why is it so difficult to understand whether medicines are under patent and when patent monopolies actually expire?” Patent Barriers to Medicine Access in South Africa:  A Case for Patent Law Reform, 13-14 (Fix the Patent Laws Campaign 2016).
  • “ISDS, Intellectual Property Rights and Public Health,” in Rethinking Bilateral Investment Treaties: Critical Issues and Policy Choices, ed. K. Singh et al. (Both ENDS, 2016) (co-author).
  • "US's Newest IP Gunship Diplomacy in Colombia - Same Threats with Dollars not Bullets," Health Gap (May 13, 2016).
  • “Trans-Pacific Partnership Provisions in Intellectual Property, Transparency, and Investment Chapters Threaten Access to Medicines in the US and Elsewhere,”PLoS Medicine (March 2016).
  • “International Collaboration on IP and Access to Medicines: The Birth of the S. Africa Fix the Patents Law Campaign,” 60 New York Law School Review 309 (2015-2016).
  • “Corporate Power Unbound: Investor-State Arbitration of IP Monopolies on Medicines – Eli Lilly v. Canada and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement,” 23 Journal of Intellectual Property Law 1 (2015) (co-author).
  • “TPP = Transnational Pharmaceutical Profiteering: Big Pharma’s Monopolies Strengthen and Multiply in Trans Pacific Partnership Trade Agreements,” 303 Third World Resurgence 24 (2015).
  • “Evolving Human Rights and the Science of Antiretroviral Medicine,” 11 Health and Human Rights Journal 76 (2015) (co-authored).
  • “Will the Modi government succumb to US and industry pressure to modify its pro-access pharmaceutical patent policy?” 25 Expert Opinon on Theraputic Patents 625 (2015).
  • “Justifying India’s Patent Position to the United States International Trade Commission and Office of the United States Trade Representative,” 7 Indian Intellectual Property Law Journal 1 (2014-2015) (co-author).
  • “Treating More for Less? A Discussion Paper Exploring the Patent Status, Registration and Price of Select HIV Medicines in Eastern Europe and Central Asia,” United Nations Developement Program (UNDP) (commissioned 2014) (co-author).
  • Comment: “Governance and Transparency at PEPFAR,” 2 Lancet Global Health e13-14 (2014) (co-author).
  • “Threat of Pharmaceutical-Related IP Investment Rights in the TPP: An Eli Lilly v. Canada Case Study,” 4 Investment Treaty News 8 (2013).
  • “Empowering patients and strengthening communities for real health workforce and funding targets,” 91 WHO Bulletin Roundtable Paper 889 (2013).
  • “Corporate Power Unbound: Investor-State Arbitration of IP Monopolies on Medicines – Eli Lilly and the TPP,”PIPIJ Research Paper Series, Paper 36 (2013).
  • “Achieving Social Justice in the Intellectual Property Debate: Realising the Goal of Access to Medicines,” 13 Africa Human Rights Law Journal 57 (2013) (co-author).
  • “Public Interest Analysis of US TPP Proposal for an IP Chapter,” 28 American University International Law Review 105 (2013) (co-author; principal author Part III).
  • “Settlement of India/EU WTO Dispute re Seizures of In-Transit Medicines: Why the Proposed EU Border Regulation Isn't Good Enough,”PIJIP Research Paper Series. American University Washington College of Law (2012) (co-author).
  • “Practice-Based Learning: Emphasizing Practice and Offering Critical Perspectives on the Dangers of 'Co-Op'tation,” 56 New York Law School Law Review 619 (2011-2012).
  • “The Evolution of IPRs from Humble Beginnings to the Modern Day TRIPS-plus Era: Implications for Treatment Access,” UNDP/UNAIDS Global Commission on HIV and the Law (June 2011) (co-author).
  • “Efficiencies in AIDS Programming: The Rhetoric and the Realities,” 58 JAIDS 228 (2011) (co-author).
  • “ACTA: Risks of Third-Party Enforcement to Access to Medicines,” 26 American University International Law Review 579 (2011).
  • “Background Paper: Laws and Practices that Facilitate or Impede HIV-Related Treatment Access,” UNDP/UNAIDS Global Commission on HIV and the Law (Sept. 2010) (co-author).
  • “The Impact of the International Monetary Fund’s Macroeconomic Policies on the AIDS Pandemic,” 40 International Journal of Health Services 347 (2010).
  • “Obstacles and Opportunities to Improve Antiretroviral Regimen Access in Low-Income Countries,” 7 Current HIV/AIDS Reports 161 (2010) (co-author).
  • “Using Global Health Initiatives to Strengthen Health Systems: A Civil Society Perspective,” 6 Global Public Health 687 (2010) (co-author).
  • “Viewpoint – The Danger of Drug Donations (In-Kind Contributions) to the Global Fund – Adverse Market and Therapeutic Effects,” 373 Lancet 1218 (2009) (co-author).
  • “Ending Drug Registration Apartheid – Taming Data Exclusivity and Patent/Registration Linkage,” 34 American Journal of Law & Medicine 303 (2008)
  • “The ‘Diagonal’ Approach to Global Fund Financing: A Cure for the Broader Malaise of Health Systems?” 4 Globalization & Health 6 (2008) (co-author).
  • “Drug Registration Barriers and Logjams,” in Missing the Target #5: Improving AIDS Drug Access and Advancing Health Care for All, 49 ITPC (Dec. 2007).
  • “Price-Cut Handcuffs: Thailand Must Stand Up to Merck’s Counteroffensive and Fully Implement Its Compulsory License on Efavirenz,” 196 Third World Resurgence (Dec. 2006).
  • “Pills Without Providers: Where are the Health Workers?” 15 ACRIA Update 4 (2006).
  • “Arthritic Flexibilities for Accessing Medicines, Analysis of WTO Action Regarding Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health,” 14 Indiana International & Comparative Law Review 613 (May 2004).
  • “Processes and Issues for Improving Access to Medicines: Willingness and Ability to Utilize TRIPS Flexibilities in Non-Producing Countries,”United Kingdom Department for International Development, Health Systems Resource Centre, (September 2004).
  • “Working Paper: Analysis and Response to Recent WTO Action Regarding TRIPS Agreement and Public Health,” United Nations Millennium Development Goals Project, Task Force 5: Infectious Diseases and Access to Essential Medicines (Dec. 2003).
  • “Teaching Legal Skills in South Africa: A Transition from Cross-Cultural Collaboration to International HIV/AIDS Solidarity,” 9 Journal of Legal Writing Instruction 145 (2003).

• Selected Chapters

  • “Covid-19’s Silver Lining? The WHO mRNA Technology Transfer Programme for the Global South Overcoming Intellectual Property Barriers is central to the South-South Innovation and Access Goals of the WHO mRNA Technology Transfer Programme.” In Pandemics and the Illumination of Hidden Things: Lessons from South Africa on the Global response to Covid-19  (Health Justice Initiative, 2023).
  • “Human Rights to Health, Medicines, and the Fruits of Scientific Research in the Pre-Access Stage.” In A Human-Centered Approach to Health Innovations: Reconciling Intellectual Property with Human Rights ( eds. L. Biersay et al. (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2024).
  • “Access to Medicines Activism: Collaboration, Conflicts, and Complementarities.” In Intellectual Property Law and the Right to Health: A History of TRIPs and Access to Medicine, eds. S. Ragavan and A. Vanni (Routledge, 2021).
  • “Campaigning for Both Innovation and Equitable Access to COVID-19 Medicines.” In COVID-19 and Human Rights, eds. M. Kjaerum et al. (Routledge, 2021).
  • “Campaigning for Both Innovation and Equitable Access To COVID-19 Medicines.” In Confronting the COVID-19 Pandemic While Protecting Human Rights, eds. M. Kjaerum et al. (Routledge 2021).
  • “Debunking IP-for-Development: Africa Needs IP Space Not IP Shackles.” In International Economic Law and African Development, ed. L. Boulle et. al (Siber Ink 2014).
  • “Placing Access to Essential Medicine on the Human Rights Agenda.” In The Power of Pills: Social, Ethical and Legal Issues in Drug Development, Marketing and Pricing, ed. C. Cohen et. al (Pluto Press, 2006).

• Selected Commentary

  • “There’s Only One Syphilis Medication for Pregnant People. And the Supply Is Running Out. What Can the Government Do To Help?,” Northeastern Global News (March 22, 2024).
  • “Extension of COVID-19 Vaccine Waiver Uncertain After WTO Conference,” Life Sciences Intellectual Property Review (March 7, 2024).
  • “The Underutilization of Paxlovid,” NU Sci (February 28, 2024).
  • “Pandemic Accord Hoax Highlights Blatant Hypocrisy of US and EU Approach to Big Pharma,” The People’s Vaccine (February 14, 2024).
  • “WTO Appears Close To Rejecting a Proposed Waiver on Patents for COVID Diagnostics and Therapies,” Pharmalot (January 31, 2024).
  • “Using Digital Technologies To Diagnose in the Home: Recommendations From a Delphi Panel,” NPJ Digital Medicine (January 22, 2024).
  • “South Africa, Colombia and Others Are Fighting Drugmakers Over Access to TB and HIV Drugs,” Associated Press (November 24, 2023).
  • “USITC Report Confirms Inadequacy of Voluntary License, Tier Pricing, International initiatives to Support Access in Developing Countries, Third World Network Information Service,” Third World Network (November 1, 2023).
  • “Key highlights in the USITC Report: Supports Extension of the 17th June Ministerial Decision on the TRIPS Agreement to COVID 19 Diagnostics and Therapeutics,” Third World Network (October 26, 2023).
  • “Unmet Need for Paxlovid in Low- and Middle-Income Countries during COVID-19 Emergency,” Public Citizen (October 17, 2023).
  • “Building a Bridge to Nowhere: Promoting Local Production without Addressing Intellectual Property,”  UNITAID NGO Delegation Report (October 2023).
  • “Health Activists Reveal Big Pharma’s COVID-19 Vaccine Heist in South Africa.” Peoples Dispatch (September 7, 2023).
  • “Big Pharma ‘Bullying’ Exposed in South African COVID-19 Contracts,” devex (September 7, 2023).
  • “Covid-19 Contracts Reveal That Big Pharma ‘Bullied’ SA While Securing Vaccines Worth $734m – NGO,” Daily Maverick (September 5, 2023).
  • “iiV Healthcare and Doctors Without Borders Tussle Over Contract Terms for an HIV Drug,” STAT (August 17, 2023).
  • “A Way Forward for Equitable Pharmaceutical Access After COVID-19,” Boston University Global Development Policy (GDP) Center Bkig (May 24, 2023).
  • “Medical Countermeasures Platform will be Pitched to Countries Next Week. Inadequate Consultations, Squeamish about IP, Activists Say,” Geneva Health Files (May 19, 2023).
  • “Indonesia Should Reject New IP Monopoly Protections for Medicines,” The Jakarta Post (May 18, 2023).
  • “Fear-Mongering on Threatened Incentives to Innovation Dominate US-ITC Hearings, Activists Pick Apart Narratives,” Geneva Health Files (May 5, 2023).
  • “European Union Drug Pricing Proposal for the Pandemic Treaty Generates Pushback,” STAT (March 31, 2023).
  • “Abortion Pill, Vaccine Attacks Spell Trouble for FDA Approvals,” Bloomberg Law (March 2, 2023).
  • “Angry at Vertex Pricing of Cystic Fibrosis Drugs, Families in Four Countries Seek To Override Patents,” STAT (February 7, 2023).
  • “Amid Rising Covid Fears, Wait For Patent Waiver On Meds Continues,”
  • “Gates Foundation to Increase Funding to $8.3 Billion This Year,” The Chronicle of Philanthropy (January 17, 2023).
  • “The Pandemic Exposed Global Gaps in Access to Medicines. Can a Contentious Approach to Close Them Gain Traction?,” STAT (January 5, 2023).
  • “The Pandemic Exposed Global Gaps in Access to Medicines. Can a Contentious Approach to Close Them Gain Traction?," STAT  (January 5, 2023).
  • “Amid Rising Covid Fears, Wait For Patent Waiver On Meds Continues,” Times Special (December 26, 2022).
  • “Biden’s Omicron Booster Campaign Faces Fatigue, Efficacy Doubts,” Bloomberg Law (September 8, 2022).
  • “Territorial and Indirect Territorial Coverage of ViiV/MPP CAB-LA License,” infojustice (August 8, 2022).
  • Webinar: “Covid-19 Vaccine and Treatment Equity post-TRIPS Waiver,” (July 27, 2022).
  • “Pharma and Patient Advocates Offer Competing Visions for Achieving Vaccine Equity During Pandemics,” STAT (July 19, 2022).
  • Webinar: “TRIPS Waiver Decision Explained, COVID Advocates Advisory Board,” (July 11, 2022).
  • “TRIPS-Compliant Alternatives for Overcoming Intellectual Property Barriers to COVID-19 Countermeasures,” PIJIP Blog (June 30, 2022).
  • “The Spectacular Failure of the WTO To Fight Covid,” In These Times (June 23, 2022).
  • “Time to Walk Away from the WTO Proposed Text,” Health GAP (June 9, 2022).
  • “WHO to Share Vaccines to Stop Monkeypox Amid Inequity Fears,” US News (June 15, 2022).
  • “As Poor Nations Seek Covid Pills, Officials Fear Repeat of AIDS Crisis,” The New York Times (May 16, 2022).
  • “Pfizer Allegedly Pressured UNICEF to Keep Secret, Pricing for Anti-Viral Treatment Paxlovid. UNICEF Yielded,” Geneva Health Files (April 26, 2022).
  • “Congressional Delays Could Undermine COVID-19 Global Fight,” National Journal (April 20, 2022).
  •  “Covid Booster Costs Spur Calls to Shift From Free Jabs for All,” Bloomberg Law (April 11, 2022).
  •  “Possible Compromise Reached On Potential TRIPS Waiver For COVID Vaccines,” The Organization for World Peace (April 11, 2022).
  • “How President Biden Can Expand Global COVID-19 Test-To-Treat,” Health Affairs (April 6, 2022).
  • “African Clinical Trial Denied Access to Key COVID Drug Paxlovid,” Nature (April 4, 2022).
  • “While We Line Up for a Fourth Shot, the World’s Poor Haven’t Gotten Their First,” LA Times (April 3, 2022).
  • “Rich Countries are Getting the New COVID Vaccine First,”Brook Baker, Salon (March 25, 2022).
  •  “US, EU Draft To Amend India’s Trips Waiver Proposal Shows West Hypocrisy at Its Best,” The Print (March 24, 2022).
  • “Pfizer Inks Deal With UNICEF to Supply COVID Pill to Poor Countries, but Advocates Say It Isn’t Enough,” STAT (March 22, 2022).
    
  • “New "Compromise" on an IP Waiver for Covid Vaccines Is Worse Than No Deal, Activists Say,” In These Times (March 16, 2022).
  • “The Quad TRIPS Waiver Text is not a Compromise; It is an Abomination,” Health GAP (March 16, 2022).
    
  • “A Compromise Is Reached on an Intellectual Property Waiver for COVID-19 Vaccines, but Does It Go Far Enough?,” STAT News (March 15, 2022).
  •  “COVID Inequity: In Africa, At-home Tests Are Scarce, Costly,”Associated Press (February 3, 2022).
  •  “COVID Testing Equity: A Reflection Based on 1.5 Years in the ACT-Accelerator,” PLOS Blog (January 24, 2022).
  • “What Would It Take To Vaccinate the World Against COVID-19?,” Northeastern News (September 9, 2021).
  • “Access-to-Medicines Activists Demand Health Justice During COVID-19 Pandemic,” Bill of Health Blog (August 12, 2021).
  • “Experts Question Video of Deputy Who Purportedly “Almost Died” From Substance Said To Be Fentanyl,” CBS News (August 10, 2021).
  • Video: “Who Owns the Rights to COVID Vaccines?,” Al Jazeera's Inside Story (July 28, 2021),
  • “Inching Towards Immunity,” Northeastern Law Magazine (July, 2021)
  • “A U.N. Declaration on Ending AIDS Should Have Been Easy. It Wasn’t,” The New York Times (June 8, 2021).
  • “Is European Union on Collision Course With European Parliament on COVID IP Waiver?,” Health Policy Watch (August 6, 2021).
  • “EU Pushes Rival Plan to COVID-19 Vaccine Ip Waiver, but Some Deride It as ‘Meaningless’,” Health Policy Watch (June 4, 2021).
  • “The Impracticality of Relying on Compulsory Licenses to Expand Production Capacity for COVID-19 Vaccines,” infojustice (June 6, 2021).
  • “Have Covid-19 Deaths Been Undercounted? New Reports Say ‘Yes’ and Here’s Why It Matters,” Northeastern News (May 24, 2021).
  • “How Bill Gates Impeded Global Access to Covid Vaccines,” The New Republic (April 12, 2021).
  • “Dummy’s Guide to How Trade Rules Affect Access to COVID-19 Vaccines,” The Conversation (January 9, 2021).
  • “What Will It Take To End The COVID-19 Pandemic?,” NPR (January 5, 2021).
  • “Federal Agency Reports NIH Doesn’t Consider Drug Affordability,” Legal Reader (December 16, 2020).
  • “COVID-19 Diagnostics: The Full Picture,” Geneva Health Files (October 1, 2020).
  • “How Secret Deals Could Keep a COVID-19 Drug Out of Reach for Millions,” Los Angeles Times (July 1, 2020).
  • “In Addition to Outrageous Prices and Preferential Supply to the US only, Gilead’s Allowance for Compulsory Licenses in its Remdesivir License Needlessly Limits Supply,” Health GAP (June 11, 2020).
  • “US-, China- and EU-First Nationalism and COVID-19 Technology Hoarding Push the Rest of the World to the End of the Line,” Health GAP (June 11, 2020).
  • “Op-ed: President Ramaphosa Should Support the COVID-19 IP Pool,” Spotlight (May 25, 2020).
  • “Gilead Remdesivir Licenses: Half Measures Are Not Nearly Good Enough,” Health GAP (May 13, 2020).
  • “Without a Global Approach to Deadly Inequities in Access to Possible COVID-19 Treatments and Vaccines, Legislative “Fixes” Won’t Make us Safer,” Health GAP (May 8, 2020).
  • “COVID-19: The Time for Pocrastination Over Patents is Over,” Spotlight (April 20, 2020).
  • “Should Pharmaceutical Companies Give up Their Patent Protections to Find a Vaccine for COVID-19?,” news@Northeastern (April 15, 2020).
  • “Expect a Wave of Pro-IP Proposals from Industry in the Wake of the COVID-19,” Health Gap (April 3, 2020).
  • “Uganda: Activists Demand Access to Potential Covid-19 Drug,” Erasing 76 Crimes (March 31, 2020).
  • “Drug Companies are Running Scared – Let’s Make Them Run Faster,” infojustice (March 30, 2020).
  • “Pressure Mounts to Widen Access to Medical Products That May Combat COVID-19,” Pharmalot (March 27, 2020).
  • “European Parliament Members Urge Open Licensing For COVID-19 Products Financed Through EU Grants,” Health Policy Watch (March 27, 2020).
  • “Rationale for Supporting Costa Rica’s Proposal for Emergency COVID-19 Technology IP Pool for All Countries,” Health GAP (March 25, 2020).
  •  “AbbVie will Allow Generic Copies of its HIV Pill in Israel After the Government Approved a License, ” STAT (March 20, 2020).
  • “Generic Licensing: the Only Path Through the Maze of Gilead and U.S. Patents that Achieves Access to Affordable PrEP,” Health GAP (November 20, 2019).