# \[e-drug\] Voluntary Patent Pool and MPP: an assessment **URL:** \ **Category:** e-drug\ **Created:** [June 19, 2020, 1:03pm UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-voluntary-patent-pool-and-mpp-an-assessment/45862 "2020-06-19T13:03:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sudip\_Chaudhuri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@Sudip\_Chaudhuri](https://talk.edrugplus.org/u/Sudip_Chaudhuri)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2020, 1:03pm UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-voluntary-patent-pool-and-mpp-an-assessment/45862/1 "2020-06-19T13:03:37Z")
E-DRUG: Voluntary Patent Pool and MPP: an assessment ----------------------------------------------------- Dear E-drug readers I am providing below the link to a paper on 'Making Covid-19 Medical Products Affordable: Voluntary Patent Pool and TRIPS Flexibilitie' published by South Centre. Download the whole article. [https://www.southcentre.int/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/SouthViews-Chaudhuri.pdf](https://www.southcentre.int/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/SouthViews-Chaudhuri.pdf) Abstract: The proposal of Costa Rica to create a voluntary pool mechanism for medical products and technologies for COVID-19 has evoked huge interest and optimism. WHO and Costa Rica have followed it up through a Solidarity Call emphasizing the need for voluntary licensing on non-exclusive basis to Medicines Patent Pool (MPP). The success of a voluntary pool critically depends on the willingness of the patentees to join the pool. In a public health crisis, boundaries of public policy must not be determined by the patentees. MPP will work much better if the patentees are compelled or induced to join the pool. International cooperation is important in this regard. Highlighting the virtues of voluntary measures and promoting MPP without adequate emphasis on the use of compulsory licensing and other TRIPS flexibilities, actually weakens the MPP. In the light of the experience of MPP, the basic objective of this paper is to analyse to what extent voluntary pool mechanisms can be relied upon to make COVID-19 medical products affordable and accessible. It is important to appreciate the achievements of MPP. But the constraints under which it operates and its limitations must also be kept in mind. Sudip Chaudhuri CDS, Trivandrum, India Sudip Chaudhuri \