24 September 2021
Geneva – The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) Governance Board has announced the addition of a new non-voting observer seat for the World Trade Organization (WTO), joining the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) also represented within MPP’s Governance Board with the same status.
Antony Scott Taubman, Director of Intellectual Property, Government Procurement and Competition Division at WTO, will seat on MPP’s board. A registered patent attorney from Australia, Antony has been working at WTO since 2009, overseeing many WTO activities including the coordination on the intersections between public health, trade policy and the intellectual property system, with a particular focus on the international response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are delighted to count on WTO’s expertise within our Board and to welcome Antony Taubman,” says Marie-Paule Kieny, Chair of MPP’s Governance Board. “As MPP’s mandate has greatly expanded in the last couple of years, and now includes COVID-19 therapeutics and vaccines, Antony will support us in navigating the rules of trade between nations and their applications when it comes to access to essential heath products and technologies.”
Prior to WTO, Antony headed the Global Intellectual Property Issues Division of WIPO, served as diplomat for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and held postgraduate teaching appointments at several law schools.
More on the work of MPP’s Governance Board.
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.