27 May 2022
The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) welcomes an announcement by ViiV Healthcare that it is committed to licensing its patents for cabotegravir Long-Acting (LA) for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).
MPP looks forward to negotiating and implementing a voluntary licence that will enable the development of generic versions of cabotegravir LA for PrEP to support access and scale-up in low- and middle-income countries.
“Because of its long-acting nature, cabotegravir is potentially a very important drug in our battle against HIV,” said Charles Gore, Executive Director of MPP.
“In particular, it could be a game-changer in prevention. It is critical that it becomes widely available to the people who could benefit from it. We are therefore delighted that ViiV has committed to working with us on a voluntary licence to contribute to making that possible,” Gore said.
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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.