E-DRUG: J&J Says No to the Medicines Patent Pool
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BRUSSELS, 19 DECEMBER 2011: Today, Johnson & Johnson informed the
Medicines Patent Pool of its decision not to license its HIV medicines
patents for use in developing countries through the Pool.
The Pool, founded and financed by UNITAID, seeks to increase access to HIV
medicines by negotiating with pharmaceutical companies for voluntary
licences on their HIV medicines patents. The work of the Pool has received
support from the World Health Organization, UNAIDS, the Global Fund to
Fight HIV, TB, and Malaria, and the Group of 8.
Currently, the Pool has concluded two licensing agreements with Gilead
Sciences and the US National Institutes of Health, and is also in
negotiations with Boehringer-Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, F. Hoffman
LaRoche, Sequoia Pharmaceuticals, and Viiv Healthcare [a joint venture of
GSK and Pfizer]. Generic companies have begun to take licences from the
Pool allowing them to make lower cost versions of new HIV treatments for
use in developing countries.
More information on the Pool is available from its website at
http://www.medicinespatentpool.org/
Kaitlin Mara <kmara@medicinespatentpool.org>