21 December 2017
The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) is currently inviting interested product developers to indicate an interest in a sublicence for investigational hepatitis C (HCV) treatment ravidasvir. Pharco Pharmaceuticals granted the MPP a non-exclusive, royalty-bearing licence which allows sublicensees to develop, make, have made, use, file for regulatory approval, sell, import and export ravidasvir. The full text of the agreement can be found here.
Per the licence’s terms and conditions, the MPP seeks to grant sublicences to any entity that can demonstrate a willingness and capacity to further develop and commercialise the product and make the product widely available in the Territory. The MPP will also require any sublicensee to agree upon reasonable diligence requirements and development milestones.
Interested parties should also submit as much detail as possible to help MPP understand whether, and to what extent, a granted sublicence will help improve sustainable access to improved regimens to treat HCV. Applications should include an assessment of an organisation’s state of readiness, experience in HCV research and development, and access to resources for further development.
Please contact the foundation’s Business Development Director Sandeep Juneja for further clarifications about proposal format and content.
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, two hepatitis C direct-acting antivirals and a tuberculosis treatment. The MPP was founded and is funded by Unitaid.
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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.