14 November 2016
Geneva, 14 November 2016 – The Access to Medicine (ATM) Index issued its biennial report today giving high marks to companies that have negotiated licences for antiretrovirals and hepatitis C medicines through the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP). The report acknowledged that since the first company, Gilead, joined the MPP in 2012, the organisation has been “the central independent driver of access-oriented licensing in the pharmaceutical industry.”
The ATM index analyses the top twenty research companies on their approach to making medicines more accessible in low- and middle-income countries. Patents & Licensing is one of seven technical areas considered in the ranking. Top spots went to MPP partners Gilead Sciences, GlaxoSmithKline, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck & Co., while these companies as well as AbbVie were recognised for their “pro-access criteria in their agreed licences…negotiated by the MPP.”
“We welcome this year’s report and its focus on the high standards of MPP licences that seek to provide the broadest health benefits to people living in low- and middle- income countries,” said Greg Perry, Executive Director of the MPP. “We also congratulate our partners for their work to improve access to medicines policies in developing countries.”
The Index concludes that companies are “refining ways they organise efforts to increase access to medicine and most companies surveyed now have a detailed access-to-medicine strategy.” While recognising that there is much room for further improvement, the ATM Index highlights certain companies’ initiatives to apply a more access-oriented approach to intellectual property management. “Licensing can stimulate competition, reduce prices and bolster supply,” notes ATM index reviewers. “To have a significant impact on access, licences should be non-exclusive, transparent and include access-friendly terms.”
Finally, the report indicates that more HIV/AIDS producers are covered today by voluntary licences than was the case in 2014, and, for the first time, companies are turning to voluntary licensing to expand access to medicines in a second disease area: hepatitis C. The MPP has signed licences for 12 World Health Organization-recommended antiretrovirals and one antiviral hepatitis C treatment with patent holders AbbVie, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead Sciences, MSD (Merck & Co. in the US and Canada), the US National Institutes of Health and ViiV Healthcare, a joint venture among GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Shionogi.
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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.