Initiative for Medicines, Access, and Knowledge (I-MAK) is a research and policy advocacy organization focused on patent laws. It claims that pharmaceutical companies keep drug prices high by gaming the patent system and publishes patent data and reports to support these claims.

I-MAK is funded by several left-of-center philanthropies including Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, and MacKenzie Scott.

I-MAK has come under attack with claims that its data, which has been used by Congress when discussing patent strategy, is flawed. ¹

Background

Initiative for Medicines, Access, and Knowledge (I-MAK) is an organization made up of lawyers, scientists, and health experts focused on research and policy change to address pharmaceutical patent reform and pricing monopolies with the intent to lower drug prices. ²

I-MAK was co-founded in 2006 by Priti Krishtel and Tahir Amin. ³ Amin was an attorney specializing in intellectual property law. ⁴ Krishtel was an attorney and activist focused on health law. ⁵

The organization received seed funding from Echoing Green which works to support left-of-center social entrepreneurs and earned monies through consultancies with the World Health Organization and the Clinton Foundation. ⁶

I-MAK began by working to expand access to HIV treatments in India by challenging patents that kept prices high. In the following years I-MAK expanded its scope. It partnered with patient advocacy groups to lower drug prices for 33 medicines associated with 16 diseases across 49 countries. ⁷ In 2016 I-MAK moved its focus to the United States resulting in congressional hearings and media stories focusing on alleged abuses of the drug patent system. ⁸

Work Areas

I-MAK creates research and policy change recommendations to drive change to the medicines system in the United States. Through its research, I-MAK developed a report entitled Overpatented, Overpriced that identifies alleged abuses of patent laws in the United States and their impact on drug pricing. The report reviews the 10 top-selling drugs in the United States and describes the exploitation of the patent system that blocks competition and keeps drug prices high. ⁹

I-MAK developed a Drug Patent Book database and a policy “blueprint for reforms” that have been leveraged in Congressional investigations and published in the media. ¹⁰

In 2021 I-MAK published a 10-point list of recommendations for the Biden administration focused on increasing racial equity and competition in the patent system in response to President Biden’s executive order to “increase racial equity across all federal agencies.” ¹¹ According to I-MAK, “structural racism is embedded in our health care system” ¹² and structural inequities in the medicines system most affect Black and Brown people, seniors, and low-income communities. ¹³

Funding

I-MAK received $2 million in funding from liberal philanthropist MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving program, ¹⁴ which donated over $2 billion to 360 organizations in 2023. ¹⁵

Additional donors to I-MAK include left-of-center advocacy group Economic Security Project Action, Hopewell Fund, large left-of-center grantmaking organization Tides Foundation, Charities Aid Foundation of America, donor-advised funds manager Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program, Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund, and San Francisco Foundation, ¹⁶ which is one of the nation’s largest community foundations, focused on “racial equity and economic inclusion.” ¹⁷ Ford Foundation donated $250,000 to I-MAK in 2021. ¹⁸

Liberal billionaire philanthropist George Soros’s Open Society Foundations has donated over $1.3 million to I-MAK since 2017. ¹⁹

Arnold Ventures highlighted grantees I-MAK, Tahir Amin, and Priti Krishtel in its list of “Who to Watch in Health Care in 2023.” ²⁰

Leadership

Tahir Amin is the co-founder and CEO of I-MAK. ²¹ Amin earned a law degree from the University of Westminster in London. His initial positions focused on intellectual property law. He is a former Harvard University Medical School Fellow and a TED Fellow. In 2006, he co-founded I-MAK. He is a frequent publisher and speaker on patent issues. ²²

Priti Krishtel was a co-founder and co-executive director of I-MAK. Krishtel earned a law degree from New York University School of Law. She began her career in health law and advocacy. In 2006, she co-founded I-MAK and was co-executive director along with Amin until 2023. In 2020, she became an Ashoka Fellow. In 2022, Krishtel became a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation MacArthur Fellow. ^{23 24} In 2023, she left I-MAK to become a speaker and health policy advocate, continuing to focus on patent system changes. ²⁵

Controversy

In January 2022, right-of-center think tank Hudson Institute published a policy memo that questioned I-MAK’s patent data and cites discrepancy examples of patent counts between I-MAK and other official public sources such as the FDAs Orange Book. It claims that I-MAK is not an academic center or think tank, but rather a policy advocacy organization that publishes reports that are consistent with its policy position. Its underlying data and coding used in its database are not available to other researchers or to the public. ^{26 27}

The policy memo author, Adam Mossoff, is a law professor at George Mason University, a senior fellow and chair of the Forum for Intellectual Property at the Hudson Institute, and a visiting intellectual property fellow at right-of-center think tank Heritage Foundation. ²⁸

In February 2022, U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) requested that I-MAK provide information on its data methodologies. Tillis wrote to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and to the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) requesting additional scrutiny of I-MAK’s data. ²⁹

In March 2022, I-MAK responded by indicating that traditional public sources are not an accurate data source, but it did not disclose its data or methodologies. ³⁰

IPWatchdog has published many follow-up articles on I-MAK’s questionable data sources and methodologies. In April and again in June 2022 Tillis renewed his request to the FDA and USPTO for an independent assessment of I-MAK’s data and methodologies in producing its patent database without response. In February 2023, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global Innovation Policy Center called I-MAKs studies, which were often relied upon by Congress, as “flawed, unreliable, and infected with mistakes.” ³¹

1. Eileen McDermott. “Mossoff Policy Memo for Hudson Institute Calls for Transparency from I-MAK on Data Used in Drug Pricing Debate. IPWatchdog. January 21, 2022. Accessed January 14, 2024. https://ipwatchdog.com/2022/01/21/mossoff-policy-memo-hudson-institute-calls-transparency-mak-data-used-drug-pricing-debate/id=144703/
2. Nhu Te. “2019 Unsung Heroes: Priti Krishtel and Tahir Amin.” NonProfit PRO. July 22, 2019. Accessed January 13, 2024. https://www.nonprofitpro.com/article/2019-unsung-heroes/
3. LinkedIn – I-MAK. Accessed January 13, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/company/i-mak/
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5. LinkedIn – Priti Krishtel. Accessed January 13, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/priti-krishtel-b75b6a5/
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7. “Our Impact.” I-MAK. Accessed January 13, 2024. https://www.i-mak.org/impact/
8. 2019 Impact Report. I-MAK. Accessed January 14, 2024. https://www.i-mak.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2019-I-MAK-Impact-Report-FINAL-2020-10-30.pdf
9. Overpatented, Overpriced. I-MAK. September 2022. Accessed January 14, 2024. https://www.i-mak.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Overpatented-Overpriced-2023-01-24.pdf
10. Ben Comer. “I-MAK’s Quest to Trim the Biopharmaceutical Patent Thicket.” Life Science Leader. July 3, 2023. Accessed January 14, 2024. https://www.lifescienceleader.com/doc/i-mak-s-quest-to-trim-the-biopharmaceutical-patent-thicket-0001
11. Priti Krishtel and Tahir Amin. “10 Steps The Biden-Harris Administration Should Take To Bring Equity To Our Patent System.” Techdirt. July 23, 2021. Accessed January 14, 2024. https://www.techdirt.com/2021/07/23/10-steps-biden-harris-administration-should-take-to-bring-equity-to-our-patent-system/
12. Alicia Victoria Lozano. “Racial disparities create obstacles for Covid-19 vaccine rollout.” NBC News. December 4, 2020. Accessed January 14, 2024. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/racial-disparities-create-obstacles-covid-19-vaccine-rollout-n1249627
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14. “Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge (I-MAK).” Yield Giving – Gifts. Accessed January 13, 2024. https://yieldgiving.com/gifts/?q=initiative+for+medicines,+access+%26+knowledge+%28i-mak%29
15. MacKenzie Scott. “(Giving Update.)” Yield Giving – Essays. December 6, 2023. Accessed January 13, 2024. https://yieldgiving.com/essays/giving-update/?q=initiative+for+medicines,+access+%26+knowledge+%28i-mak%29
16. “Results for 20-8559302.” ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed January 13, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/full_text_search?sort=best&form%5B%5D=IRS990ScheduleI&q=20-8559302&submit=Apply
17. “About Us.” San Francisco Foundation – Who We Are. Accessed January 13, 2024. https://sff.org/about-us/
18. “Initiative for Medicines Access and Knowledge.” Ford Foundation – Grants Database. Accessed January 14, 2024. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/?search=Initiative+for+Medicines+Access+and+Knowledge
19. “Awarded Grants – I-MAK.” Open Society Foundations. Accessed January 13, 2024. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/grants/past?filter_keyword=I-MAK
20. “Who to Watch in Health Care in 2023.” Arnold Ventures. March 2, 2023. Accessed January 13, 2024. https://www.arnoldventures.org/stories/who-to-watch-in-health-care-2023
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26. ^[1] Eileen McDermott. “Mossoff Policy Memo for Hudson Institute Calls for Transparency from I-MAK on Data Used in Drug Pricing Debate. IPWatchdog. January 21, 2022. Accessed January 14, 2024. https://ipwatchdog.com/2022/01/21/mossoff-policy-memo-hudson-institute-calls-transparency-mak-data-used-drug-pricing-debate/id=144703/
27. Adam Mossoff. Unreliable Data Have Infected the Policy Debates Over Drug Patents. Hudson Institute. January 2022. https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.hudson.org/Mossoff_Unreliable%20Data%20Have%20Infected%20the%20Policy%20Debates%20Over%20Drug%20Patents.pdf
28. “Adam Mossoff.” George Mason University – Faculty. Accessed January 14, 2024. https://www.law.gmu.edu/faculty/directory/fulltime/mossoff_adam
29. Eileen McDermott. “Tillis Wants More Info on I-MAK and Other Data Driving Anti-Patent Narratives Around Drug Pricing.” IPWatchdog. February 1, 2022. Accessed January 14, 2024. https://ipwatchdog.com/2022/02/01/tillis-wants-info-mak-data-driving-anti-patent-narratives-around-drug-pricing/id=145105/#
30. Eileen McDermott. “I-MAK Defends Integrity of Its Patent Data in Response to Tillis Letter.” IPWatchdog. March 9, 2022. Accessed January 14, 2024. https://ipwatchdog.com/2022/03/09/mak-defends-integrity-patent-data-response-tillis-letter/id=147282/
31. Eileen McDermott. “In Response to Questions Signaling Major Changes to Patent System, Commenters Ask USPTO: Where’s Your Data?” IPWatchdog. February 2, 2023. Accessed January 14, 2024. https://ipwatchdog.com/2023/02/02/response-questions-signaling-major-changes-patent-system-commenters-ask-uspto-wheres-data/id=156090/