Make It Happen Campaign Update 9
The Board of UNITAID agreed a memorandum of understanding with the recently established Medicines Patent Pool Foundation on June 8th, removing the final logistical hurdle and clearing the way for the Medicines Patent Pool Foundation to start work.
The newly established Medicines Patent Pool Foundation has been set up with US$ 4.4 million in funding from UNITAID, and has three founding Board Members: Bernard Pécoul, medical doctor and Director of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative; Charles Clift an economist formerly with the UK Department for International Development; and Paulo Teixeira a medical doctor who was formerly both the Director of the HIV/AIDS Department at the World Health Organisation and of the national STD/AIDS Programme in Brazil's Ministry of Health.
The Founders now have the budget to appoint a team and once that team is in place negotiations with patent holders to license their patents to the Pool can begin. Companies can no longer hide behind the excuse of not having a legal entity to negotiate with and must put their patents in the pool. All eyes will be on them to see that they do the right thing by patients.
MSF will continue to closely monitor the progress of the Pool and the actions of the patent holding companies and institutions. We will keep you updated on further developments.
Only one in three people living with HIV has access to life-saving antiretroviral medicines, one of the barriers to increased access is the lack of low-cost, effective drugs adapted to the environments where the majority of people living with HIV live. The Patent Pool has the potential to change this by providing access to the patents needed to produce the affordable life-saving medicines that millions of people are still waiting for.