In October 2022, Japanese pharmaceutical company Shionogi & Co., Ltd. and MPP signed a voluntary licence agreement for Shionogi’s antiviral candidate ensitrelvir fumaric acid (S-217622). The agreement will enable MPP to facilitate additional production and distribution of the investigational antiviral, pending regulatory authorisation or approval, by granting sublicences to qualified generic manufacturers, with the goal of expanding access to people living in LMICs. Ensitrelvir is being evaluated for the treatment of COVID-19 to be administered as an oral tablet formulation taken once daily for five days.
Under the terms of the licence agreement between Shionogi and MPP, qualified generic manufacturers that are granted sublicences by MPP will be able to manufacture and supply ensitrelvir to 117 countries. Shionogi will waive royalties on sales in all countries covered by the agreement while COVID-19 remains classified as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organization.
Sublicence agreement
Press and Media
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. 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.
To date, MPP has signed agreements with 22 patent holders for 13 HIV antiretrovirals, one HIV technology platform, three hepatitis C direct-acting antivirals, a tuberculosis treatment, a cancer treatment, four long-acting technologies, a post-partum haemorrhage medicine, three oral antiviral treatments for COVID-19 and 16 COVID-19 technologies.
MPP was founded by Unitaid, which continues to be MPP’s main funder. MPP’s work on access to essential medicines is also funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Government of Canada, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Government of Flanders. MPP’s activities in COVID-19 are undertaken with the financial support of the Japanese Government, the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, the German Agency for International Cooperation, and SDC.