Wednesday, February 16th, 2022 from 12:00-1:30pm PST

Issues of equity and access have permeated drug pricing conversations for decades. When the scientific breakthroughs have already been made, and the medicines are available, why are some people still prevented from getting the treatment they need? To what extent is this rooted in the use of patents? Although the patent system was created to incentivize and reward innovation, can it slow the spread of innovation and hinder progress instead? And while a new therapy may result from a technological advance, are the often dozens or more iterations used to build pharma patent fortresses also truly inventive? When should the public reward inventors, and when must it draw the line? If psychedelic companies follow the same pharma playbook, will many patients find it impossible to get treatment with psychedelic therapies too? Or can we expect approaches to equity and access that differ in the psychedelic space?  What changes would facilitate access to medicine and a more inclusive discourse at the Patent Office? What can be done to catalyze systemic change? How can people start to better understand—and reform—a patent system that has both technical and legal barriers to interaction? Join us for a conversation about how greater public participation and accountability can lead the way toward solving these problems of unfair drug pricing and an unjust patent system. Priti Krishtel, health justice lawyer and co-founder of health equity organization Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge (I-MAK), and patent attorney Graham Pechenik (Calyx Law, Chacruna), will discuss the decades of work by I-MAK to challenge systemic injustice and advocate for health equity in drug development and access, how the lessons learned can also apply to the psychedelic medicine space, and how public engagement is more important than ever.

Graham Pechenik is a registered patent attorney, and the founder of Calyx Law. He has a BS from UC San Diego, where he chose his Cognitive Neuroscience and Biochemistry majors after his first psychedelic experiences inspired deep curiosity about the bases for changes in consciousness, and a JD from NYU, where he initially pursued interests in bioethics and cognitive liberty. After a decade at large law firms representing companies in the agricultural, chemical, pharmaceutical, biotech, and technology industries, including litigating patents at trial and on appeal, Graham started Calyx Law to work with cannabis and psychedelics ventures. Graham is also editor-at-large of Psilocybin Alpha, where he writes about psychedelics IP, provides data for patent trackers, and helps maintain a psychedelics legalization and decriminalization tracker, and he is a member of Chacruna’s Council for the Protection of Sacred Plants. He was raised in Oakland, CA, and currently lives in San Francisco.

Priti Krishtel is a health justice lawyer and co-founder of I-MAK, a non-profit building a more just and equitable medicines system. She has spent nearly two decades exposing structural inequities affecting access to medicines and vaccines across the Global South and in the United States. That includes advocating for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines across the globe to ensuring that the Biden-Harris administration is prioritizing equity in the Patent and Trademark Office.

This talk will be recorded and immediately available for rewatch for all attendees.

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Equity and Public Participation in Psychedelic Patents