E-DRUG: UAEM Urges Universities to Support UNITAID Patent Pool
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Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) applauds the
decision of the UNITAID Executive Board to move toward establishing a
patent pool for medicines to provide patients in low and middle income
countries with increased access to more appropriate and affordable
medicines.
"UNITAID has been innovative since its inception," said Ethan Guillen,
UAEM's Executive Director. "But with this decision, UNITAID steps
forward as a visionary leader in the global fight against diseases
affecting the poor. UAEM looks forward to the pool's establishment
and urges universities to explore integrating the UNITAID patent pool
into their socially responsible licensing programs to multiply the
impact of their discoveries."
UNITAID, which was created in 2006 as an international drug purchase
facility funded by a tax on air travel by the governments of France,
Brazil, Chile, Norway and the UK has launched a Task Force to create
working documents for the pool, which could be online as early as
early 2009 with an initial focus on pediatric anti-retrovirals (ARVs)
and new combination therapies.
International efforts have been successful in bringing down the cost
of first-line ARVs to under USD 100 per year per patient, making
possible effective treatment programs in many low and middle income
countries. Second-line ARVs, however, are generally on-patent and
very expensive even in developing countries. A patent pool promises
to provide broad access to second-line drugs in developing countries
at affordable prices while maintaining royalties for patent owners.
A patent pool can contain the entire set of intellectual property
necessary to produce particular products and thus provide a one-stop
shop for companies producing pharmaceuticals for low-income countries
and global health buyers. Beyond price competition, a patent pool's
straightforward licensing arrangement and agreements on data
exclusivity offer the promise of rapid innovation and increased
flexibility in formulating and improving pharmaceuticals to meet the
specific needs of low income populations.
"Success of the UNITAID pool will depend on the readiness of patent-
holders to contribute licenses," said Sarah Sorscher, a student of law
and public health at Harvard University. "Universities as important
patent-holding institutions have a major role to play in ensuring
UNITAID's success."
Universities can act today to make three very important contributions
to the pool. First, universities can endorse the UNITAID patent pool
in principle and as one vehicle for humanitarian licensing. Second,
universities can enter into dialogue with their licensees to
facilitate issuance of geographically limited, field of use licenses
to the pool for production of on-patent ARVs and other essential
technologies developed in university labs. Third, universities can
make a forward-looking commitment to place a reservation on future
licensing agreements to enable the university to issue an appropriate
field of use license to the UNITAID patent pool.
About UAEM
Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) is a coalition of
students at nearly 40 top research institutions across the United
States, Canada and United Kingdom. UAEM's mission is to ensure that
people in developing countries have access to medicines developed in
universities and that university medical research addresses to the
needs of the majority of the world's population.
As an organization which values innovation, we work to empower
students to find new ways to improve access to health throughout the
world. Learn more atwww.essentialmedicine.org.
Judit Rius Sanjuan
Attorney
Knowledge Ecology International / Essential Information
www.keionline.org / www.cptech.org
Phone: +1.202.332.2670, x18