Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Contract: open-ended employment
Travel requirements: extensive travelling required, up to 50% of working time, within and outside EU, including LMICs.
The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) is a United Nations-backed public health organisation working to increase access to, and facilitate the development of, life-saving medicines for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Through its innovative business model, MPP partners with civil society, governments, international organisations, industry, patient groups, and other stakeholders to prioritise and license needed medicines and pool intellectual property to encourage generic manufacture and the development of new formulations. MPP’s mandate covers patented medicines for infectious diseases – HIV, TB, hepatitis C and also non-communicable diseases including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, in addition to COVID-19 treatments and technologies and more recently maternal health.
MPP aims to improve access to medicines and health technologies, particularly in LMICs, and facilitate further innovation through nonexclusive voluntary licensing. MPP operates as a non-profit voluntary licensing mechanism through partnerships with originator pharmaceutical companies and generic manufacturers that facilitate access and promote innovation. MPP negotiates licences with patent holders and then sublicenses to multiple manufacturers, who develop and supply the licensed medicines, including new formulations and combinations. The treatments are made available in a defined set of LMICs, sometimes in exchange for royalties.
The MPP’s model has received positive endorsements from the World Health Organization, the Access to Medicine Index, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), UNAIDS, the Lancet Commission on Essential Medicines for Universal Health Coverage, the United Nations High Level Panel on Access to Medicines, the G20 and many governments.
In 2021 WHO together with MPP and a global consortium of partners launched the mRNA Technology Transfer Programme. The mRNA Technology Transfer Programme was set up to address the inequalities in access to vaccines in LMICs that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic. The objectives of the Programme are to establish and enhance sustainable mRNA vaccine manufacturing capacity and to develop skilled human capital in the regions where mRNA vaccine manufacturing capacity is established or can be enhanced.
For more information, please see our website, www.medicinespatentpool.org.
The Business Development and Partnerships Director is responsible for developing new business opportunities with pharmaceutical companies and research institutions and managing relationships with Medicines Patent Pool licensors and sub-licensees. The role holder will work closely with all MPP workstreams to negotiate and agree appropriate licensing arrangements to achieve the public health objectives of the Medicines Patent Pool. As a member of the MPP Executive Leadership Team, the role provides strategic business input and guidance to ensure effective collaboration between MPP, originators and sub-licensees.
The Business Development and Partnerships Director reports directly to the Executive Director and leads the business development workstream including the in-licensing team, alliance management team based in India, and the scientific and medical affairs team. All together the workstream counts 15 staff, of which four will report directly to the future incumbent.
It is the policy and practice of the Medicines Patent Pool to provide equal employment to qualified individuals (employees and applicants) regardless of their race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, nationality, ethnic origin, marital status, disability, and to conform to all applicable laws and regulations.
Salary is commensurate with experience. The Medicines Patent Pool offers an attractive compensation and benefits package.
Please send a cover letter and CV to our recruitment partner, oprandi & partner, Dr Bruno Peterer, Senior Partner at peterer@oprandi.ch, +41 79 471 70 32 by 8 December 2024
Département communication, presse et médias
Le Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) est une organisation de santé publique soutenue par les Nations Unies, dont la mission est d’améliorer l’accès à des médicaments essentiels dans les pays à revenu faible et intermédiaire, et de faciliter la mise au point de tels médicaments. Au travers de son modèle économique innovant, le MPP collabore avec la société civile, les gouvernements, des organisations internationales, l’industrie, des groupes de patients et d’autres acteurs afin d’établir des priorités, de délivrer des licences sur les médicaments indispensables et de centraliser les actifs de propriété intellectuelle pour faciliter la fabrication de médicaments génériques et l’élaboration de nouvelles formulations.
À ce jour, le MPP a signé des accords avec 22 titulaires de brevets pour 13 antirétroviraux contre le VIH, une plateforme technologique sur le VIH, trois antiviraux à action directe contre l’hépatite C, un traitement contre la tuberculose, un traitement contre le cancer, quatre technologies à action prolongée, un traitement de l’hémorragie du post-partum, trois traitements antiviraux oraux contre la COVID-19 et 16 technologies liées à la COVID-19.
MPP a été fondé par Unitaid, qui continue d’être le principal bailleur de fonds de MPP. Le travail de MPP sur l’accès aux médicaments essentiels est également financé par l’Agence suisse pour le développement et la coopération (SDC), le gouvernement du Canada, l’Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle (OMPI) et le gouvernement de la Flandre. Les activités de MPP dans le cadre de la COVID-19 sont entreprises avec le soutien financier du gouvernement japonais, du ministère français de l’Europe et des Affaires étrangères, de l’Agence allemande de coopération internationale et de la SDC.