Priti Krishtel

Last updated
Priti Krishtel
Alma mater University of California, Berkeley, New York University
Organization Initiative for Medicines, Access, and Knowledge
Known forPharmaceutical patent reform activism

Priti Krishtel is a lawyer and advocate for patent reform and increased public participation in the patent system. She co-founded the United States-based nonprofit organization the Initiative for Medicines, Access, and Knowledge . [1]

Contents

She is a media contributor for national and international news outlets, a MacArthur Fellow, a TED speaker, and a Presidential Leadership Scholar.

Early life and education

Krishtel grew up in California. [2] She obtained her undergraduate degree from University of California, Berkeley, and her Juris Doctor degree from the New York University School of Law. [2]

Career

Krishtel started her access to medicines career in the early 2000s while working as a public interest lawyer in India at the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. She saw first-hand how patent monopolies often reduced the availability of life-saving medications in lower-income countries. After meeting fellow lawyer Tahir Amin at a protest about HIV drug prices in Bangalore, Krishtel and Amin co-founded the Initiative for Medicines, Access, and Knowledge to use their legal background to expose inequities in the patent system to increase access to affordable, life-saving medications for people around the world. [1]

Krishtel has partnered with patient groups and humanitarian organizations, including Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières), to challenge patents by Gilead Sciences on hepatitis C treatment sofosbuvir, a patent application by Novartis from patenting leukemia drug Gleevec, and Abbott Laboratories patents on the HIV drug Kaletra. These challenges resulted in increased patient access to medicines and public savings for governments and health systems. [1] [3]

Media

In 2018, Krishtel stated that public enthusiasm for intellectual property rights reform is at an all-time high due to concerns around the rising costs of prescription drugs. [4] In 2020 she pointed to research showing no correlation between high drug prices and increased pharmaceutical research and development. [5] She has said that many medicinal patent applications, rather than being for new medicinal formulas, are minor tweaks to drug administration regimes or processes. [3]

In 2021, she called for reforms by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to ensure US pharmaceutical companies do not abuse the patent system to extend their market monopolies. [3] This effort was amplified during the COVID vaccine debate. In August 2021, she pointed out that 55% of people in developed countries have been vaccinated, while for people in developing countries, the number is 1%. [6] In the same year, she joined global health advocates in calling for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, and tests through sharing intellectual property and know-how to increase supply and access. [7]

Krishtel has called out the danger of vaccine nationalism, or the hoarding of vaccine supply by any country, and warned that the prioritization of vaccines for American citizens or other high-income countries could be "the beginning of a new Hunger Games" where populations are pitted against each other to get access to treatments and vaccines if measures were not taken. [8] In 2021, she stated that intellectual property law reform alone would not be enough to improve access to COVID-19 vaccines and that technology transfer was also needed. [9]

Responding to criticism of the technology transfer argument in which it was said that local manufacturing of vaccines increased safety risks, she told CBS News that such defenses of the status quo were patronizing and racist assumptions grounded in the false perspective that low-income countries lacked manufacturing capacity and a safety regulatory framework. [10]

In an interview with Amanpour & Company on PBS regarding COVID-19 vaccine access, she noted that everyone should have access to vaccines. This sentiment was echoed in an op-ed she co-authored with Chelsea Clinton in USA Today on the need to vaccinate the world to stop the spread of further variants, stating, "Nobody is safe until we are all safe." [11]

In 2021, Krishtel joined the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives at a press conference and noted the importance of addressing patent and other anti-competitive abuses as part of the response to lowering healthcare costs during a legislative effort on drug pricing. She is quoted in the New York Times editorial board opinion in April 2022 supporting patent reform. [12]

Awards and recognition

Krishtel is a TED speaker, Presidential Leadership Scholar, an Ashoka fellow. [13] She is an Echoing Green Fellow and received the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award from NYU's School of Law in 2022. She was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2022. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pharmaceutical industry</span> Industry involved with discovery, development, production and marketing of drugs

The pharmaceutical industry is an industry in medicine that discovers, develops, produces, and markets pharmaceutical drugs for use as medications to be administered to patients, with the aim to cure and prevent diseases, or alleviate symptoms. Pharmaceutical companies may deal in generic or brand medications and medical devices. They are subject to a variety of laws and regulations that govern the patenting, testing, safety, efficacy using drug testing and marketing of drugs. The global pharmaceuticals market produced treatments worth $1,228.45 billion in 2020 and showed a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.8%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilead Sciences</span> American pharmaceutical company

Gilead Sciences, Inc. is an American biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Foster City, California that focuses on researching and developing antiviral drugs used in the treatment of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, influenza, and COVID-19, including ledipasvir/sofosbuvir and sofosbuvir. Gilead is a member of the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index and the S&P 500.

The pharmaceutical industry in India was valued at an estimated US$42 billion in 2021 and is estimated to reach $130 billion by 2030. India is the world's largest provider of generic medicines by volume, with a 20% share of total global pharmaceutical exports. It is also the largest vaccine supplier in the world by volume, accounting for more than 60% of all vaccines manufactured in the world. Indian pharmaceutical products are exported to various regulated markets including the US, UK, European Union and Canada.

The Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines is an international campaign started by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to increase the availability of essential medicines in developing countries. MSF often has difficulties treating patients because the medicines required are too expensive or are no longer produced. Sometimes, the only drugs available are highly toxic or ineffective, and they often have to resort to inadequate testing methods to diagnose patients.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Universities Allied for Essential Medicines</span>

Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) is a student-led organization working to improve access to and affordability of medicines around the world, and to increase research and development of drugs for neglected tropical diseases. Supported by an active board of directors and guided by an advisory board that includes Partners in Health co-founder Paul Farmer and Nobel Laureate Sir John Sulston, UAEM has mobilized hundreds of students on more than 100 campuses in more than 20 countries. These student advocates have convinced universities worldwide to adopt equitable global access licensing policies for licensing their medical research, in order to make life-saving health innovations affordable and accessible in low and middle income countries. UAEM has published two student-led research projects—the University Report Card, which ranks universities on their contributions to global health and has received coverage in The New York Times and others; and Re:Route, a mapping of biomedical research and development (R&D) alternatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pharmaceutical lobby</span>

The pharmaceutical lobby refers to the representatives of pharmaceutical drug and biomedicine companies who engage in lobbying in favour of pharmaceutical companies and their products.

Legal scholars, economists, activists, policymakers, industries, and trade organizations have held differing views on patents and engaged in contentious debates on the subject. Critical perspectives emerged in the nineteenth century that were especially based on the principles of free trade. Contemporary criticisms have echoed those arguments, claiming that patents block innovation and waste resources that could otherwise be used productively, and also block access to an increasingly important "commons" of enabling technologies, apply a "one size fits all" model to industries with differing needs, that is especially unproductive for industries other than chemicals and pharmaceuticals and especially unproductive for the software industry. Enforcement by patent trolls of poor quality patents has led to criticism of the patent office as well as the system itself. Patents on pharmaceuticals have also been a particular focus of criticism, as the high prices they enable puts life-saving drugs out of reach of many people. Alternatives to patents have been proposed, such Joseph Stiglitz's suggestion of providing "prize money" as a substitute for the lost profits associated with abstaining from the monopoly given by a patent.

The cost of HIV treatment is a complicated issue with an extremely wide range of costs due to varying factors such as the type of antiretroviral therapy and the country in which the treatment is administered. The first line therapy of HIV, or the initial antiretroviral drug regimen for an HIV-infected patient, is generally cheaper than subsequent second-line or third-line therapies. There is also a great variability of drug prices among low, middle, and high income countries. In general, low-income countries have the lowest cost of antiretroviral therapy, while middle- and high-income tend to have considerably higher costs. Certain prices of HIV drugs may be high and difficult to afford due to patent barriers on antiretroviral drugs and slow regulatory approval for drugs, which may lead to indirect consequences such as greater HIV drug resistance and an increased number of opportunistic infections. Government and activist movements have taken efforts to limit the price of HIV drugs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aspen Pharmacare</span> Major pharmaceutical company in South Africa

Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Limited is a public multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in uMhlanga, South Africa. Founded in 1997, it listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in 1998, and purchased South African Druggists in 1999 before expanding into international markets. Currently the largest pharmaceutical company in Africa through aggressive mergers and expansion, with major manufacturing sites in locations such as Gqeberha in South Africa, Bad Oldesloe in Germany, Notre-Dame-de-Bondeville in France, and Oss, Netherlands, Aspen is known for manufacturing and distributing branded pharmaceuticals as well as generic HIV/AIDS antiretrovirals (ARVs) and cancer medications. Among other products, Aspen has also been involved in manufacturing the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine through "fill and finish", and has the rights to sell the product under its own brand name Aspenovax. The company's revenue in 2022 was R38.6 billion. In 2016 Aspen was fined for high prices on cancer drugs, and after an investigation Aspen committed to reduce prices for 5 years in the European Union.

A biological patent is a patent on an invention in the field of biology that by law allows the patent holder to exclude others from making, using, selling, or importing the protected invention for a limited period of time. The scope and reach of biological patents vary among jurisdictions, and may include biological technology and products, genetically modified organisms and genetic material. The applicability of patents to substances and processes wholly or partially natural in origin is a subject of debate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moderna</span> American biotechnology company

Moderna, Inc. is a pharmaceutical and biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that focuses on RNA therapeutics, primarily mRNA vaccines. These vaccines use a copy of a molecule called messenger RNA (mRNA) to carry instructions for proteins to produce an immune response. The company's name is derived from the terms "modified", "RNA", and "modern".

The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) is a Unitaid-backed international organisation founded in July 2010, based in Geneva, Switzerland. Its public health driven business model aims to lower the prices of HIV, tuberculosis and hepatitis C medicines and facilitate the development of better-adapted HIV treatments through voluntary licensing and patent pooling. Its goal is to improve access to affordable and appropriate HIV, hepatitis C and tuberculosis medicines in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). In May 2020, the MPP become an implementing partner of the WHO's Covid-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP).

Access to medicines refers to the reasonable ability for people to get needed medicines required to achieve health. Such access is deemed to be part of the right to health as supported by international law since 1946.

Professor Helen Rees OBE GCOB D.Sc. Medicine LLD is a medical doctor, and the founder and executive director of Wits RHI, the largest research Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. She is a Personal Professor in the University of Witwatersrand's Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, co-director and co-founder of the Wits African Leadership in Vaccinology Expertise (ALIVE), Honorary Professor in the Department of Clinical Research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and an Honorary Fellow at Cambridge University's Murray Edwards College, UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">COVID-19 vaccine</span> Vaccine against SARS-CoV-2

A COVID‑19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deployment of COVID-19 vaccines</span> Distribution and administration of COVID-19 vaccinations

As of 3 January 2024, 13.53 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered worldwide, with 70.6 percent of the global population having received at least one dose. While 4.19 million vaccines were then being administered daily, only 22.3 percent of people in low-income countries had received at least a first vaccine by September 2022, according to official reports from national health agencies, which are collated by Our World in Data.

The TRIPS Agreement waiver is a joint intervention communication by South Africa and India to the TRIPS council of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on 2 October 2020.

Vaccine equity means ensuring that everyone in the world has equal access to vaccines. The importance of vaccine equity has been emphasized by researchers and public health experts during the COVID-19 pandemic but is relevant to other illnesses and vaccines as well. Historically, world-wide immunization campaigns have led to the eradication of smallpox and significantly reduced polio, measles, tuberculosis, diphtheria, whooping cough, and tetanus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Initiative for Medicines, Access, and Knowledge</span> Nonprofit organization

The Initiative for Medicines, Access, and Knowledge, known as I-MAK, is a U.S.-based global 501(c)(3) organization that advocates in the public interest for affordable access to medicines, and a medicines system that is more inclusive of patients and the public.

Bisola Ojikutu is an American physician, disease specialist, and researcher. In July 2021, she was appointed as the executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission. Ojikutu is the fifth Commissioner of Public Health for the City of Boston and the first Black person to permanently hold this position. She currently serves on the Cabinet of Mayor Michelle Wu.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Quigley, Fran (2017-11-17). "Patent Fighters: Taking on Big Pharma". Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health . Retrieved 2022-01-09.
  2. 1 2 "Alumna of the Month November 2009 | NYU School of Law". www.law.nyu.edu. Retrieved 2022-01-09.
  3. 1 2 3 Sinha, Gunjan. "Why Americans pay through the nose for brand-name drugs". Mother Jones. Retrieved 2021-11-15.
  4. ↑ "Pharma patent owners in the US are under pressure like they have never been before | IAM". www.iam-media.com. Retrieved 2021-11-17.
  5. ↑ Weaver, Jasmin. "Ten years ago, I testified before Congress about drug pricing — and it's only gotten worse. Here's what's wrong, and how we may be able to fix it". Business Insider. Retrieved 2021-11-16.
  6. ↑ "What is the COVID-19 situation in Southeast Asia?". www.medicalnewstoday.com. 2021-08-11. Retrieved 2021-11-15.
  7. ↑ "What to Know About Vaccine Nationalism". Teen Vogue. 2021-05-06. Retrieved 2021-11-15.
  8. ↑ Wise, Jacqui (2020-07-03). "Remdesivir: US purchase of world stocks sparks new "hunger games," warn observers". BMJ. 370: m2661. doi: 10.1136/bmj.m2661 . ISSN   1756-1833. PMID   32620681. S2CID   220303420.
  9. ↑ Kaplan, Thomas; Stolberg, Sheryl Gay; Robbins, Rebecca (2021-05-05). "Taking 'Extraordinary Measures,' Biden Backs Suspending Patents on Vaccines". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2021-11-15.
  10. ↑ "Calls for drug companies to share vaccine formulas grow as global COVID crisis worsens". www.cbsnews.com. 5 May 2021. Retrieved 2021-11-15.
  11. ↑ Weiss, Debra Cassens (2022-10-14). "Health justice lawyer is among 25 recipients of MacArthur 'genius grants'". ABA Journal. Retrieved 2023-01-06.
  12. ↑ "Opinion - Save America's Patent System". The New York Times. 2022-04-16. Retrieved 2023-01-06.
  13. ↑ "Priti Krishtel | Ashoka | Everyone a Changemaker". www.ashoka.org. Retrieved 2022-01-09.
  14. ↑ "Who Are the 2022 MacArthur 'Genius Grant' Fellows?". Bloomberg. 12 October 2022. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
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