UNITAID Statement on the Medicines Patent Pool

The UNITAID Medicines Patent Pool Initiative has been met with a great degree of interest at the International AIDS Conference this week. 

The medicines patent pool will be managed by the Medicines Patent Pool Foundation (MPPF), which will soon open for business and will be in a position to begin formal negotiations with the patent holders. The Medicines Patent Pool Foundation will initially focus exclusively on antiretrovirals (ARVs).

Discussions with a number of key ARV patent holders over the past few months have been encouraging. Some patent holders have expressed considerable interest in the initiative, and have been commended for that, including in the recently published Access to Medicines Index. However, contrary to some of this week’s media reports, no licensing agreements have been reached with any patent holders; recent and current conversations with the patent holders have been preliminary to the Medicines Patent Pool Foundation becoming fully operational.