Geneva, 15 February 2018 –  The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) signed a collaborative agreement with the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), an intergovernmental organisation that facilitates cooperation among 19 African states in patent and intellectual property issues. ARIPO will support the continued improvement of, and data collection for, MedsPaL, the MPP’s signature resource for patent and licensing information in low- and middle-income countries.

The MPP launched MedsPaL in 2016 to provide information on the patent and licensing status of HIV, hepatitis C and tuberculosis medicines. It expanded the database in late 2017 to include other patented medicines on the World Health Organization’s Essential Medicines List. Today, MedsPaL covers 6,800 national patent applications in more than 110 countries for more than 70 priority treatments.

ARIPO is the second regional patent organisation to sign a collaborative agreement with the MPP.  The foundation also has a memorandum of understanding with the European Patent Office, as well as with the national patent offices of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador and South Africa.

Unitaid funds the MPP’s HIV, hepatitis C and tuberculosis activities.

About the Medicines Patent Pool

The Medicines Patent Pool is a United Nations-backed public health organisation working to increase access to HIV, hepatitis C and tuberculosis treatments in low- and middle-income countries. Through its innovative business model, the MPP partners with industry, civil society, international organisations, patient groups and other stakeholders to prioritise, forecast and license needed medicines and pool intellectual property to encourage generic manufacture and the development of new formulations. To date, the MPP has signed agreements with nine patent holders for thirteen HIV antiretrovirals, one HIV technology platform, a tuberculosis treatment and two hepatitis C direct-acting antivirals.