E-DRUG: MSF responses to UNITAID patent pool being approved
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Innovative Initiative Designed to Boost Access to Medicines is Adopted
Geneva, 15 December 2009
In a decisive step to improve access to
medicines in the developing world, the Executive Board of UNITAID, the
international health financing agency, has given the green light for a
patent pool for AIDS medicines to open for business.
'Although these are early days, the patent pool could become a mechanism
that systematically offers licenses to generic manufacturers, reducing
prices and facilitating the combination of drugs from different makers into
fixed-dose or one pill combinations,' said Dr. Tido von Schoen-Angerer,
Executive Director of Medecins Sans Frontieres' Campaign for Access to
Essential Medicines.
The UNITAID Board has decided to set up and fund the licensing agency that
will run the pool. Once established, this means that formal negotiations
with drug companies can begin.
'This is an important decision, but the pool will be judged on its outcome
for patients,' said Michelle Childs, Director of Policy & Advocacy at MSF.
'We've been encouraged by the positive responses from a number of companies
to our campaign in support of the pool. Now that the pool has been given a
green light, patent holders need to move from expressions of general
support to firm and formal license commitments. We urge them to do so.
This needs to happen fast, as the clock is ticking for millions of
patients.'
'The Board has confirmed that this pool is for all developing countries,
but as this is a voluntary mechanism, the ultimate outcome will depend on
the decisions of patent holders. Countries can still use the legal
mechanisms at their disposal such as compulsory licensing and pro-health
patent laws to ensure people have access to the life-saving medicines they
need. If the pool proves unsuccessful, or if the terms don't meet the needs
of patients in the developing world, then they should.'
For further information, please contact:
Guillaume Bonnet, MSF Press Officer, +41 79 203 13 02
Notes
International trade rules have led to the patenting of newer drugs in key
generic-producing countries. A company that holds patents on a medicine has
the right to prevent others from manufacturing it and, by taking advantage
of its monopoly, charge high prices. In some developing countries, the cost
of a newer HIV treatments can thus be inaccessible for millions of people
living with HIV.
People living with HIV inevitably develop resistance to their treatment.
They need newer drugs as their initial medicines no longer work effectively
against the virus or cause unbearable side effects. They will thus need,
newer, patented medicines.
A patent pool for medicines has the potential to safeguard access to
patented medicines for people living with HIV in the developing world, by
creating a structure for drug companies to share their HIV drug patents and
receive royalties in return. Other drug companies can access these patents
and competition between multiple manufacturers will bring prices down. The
removal of patent barriers can also help stimulate the development of
child-friendly formulations or fixed-dose combinations, combining several
drugs into one pill.
As part of an MSF campaign in support of UNITAID Patent Pool, almost
300,000 letters were sent by the public to pharmaceutical companies asking
them to put their patents into the Pool.
James ARKINSTALL <James.ARKINSTALL@paris.msf.org>