1 April 2021
Geneva – The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) Governance Board has appointed Peter Maybarduk, Director of Public Citizen’s Access to Medicines programme, as its newest board member, effective today.
Peter heads the Access to Medicines programme of Public Citizen and provides patent and licensing guidance to public health agencies and civil society organisations in many countries. He supports partners the world over in making medicine affordable and ensuring the benefits of innovation are accessible to all. His work contributes to major health-related cost savings and new policies in favour of access to medicines. Recently, Peter strongly advocated for adequate funding and technology transfer to ensure wide access to COVID-19 vaccines especially in low- and middle-income countries.
“Peter’s expertise in intellectual property and solid experience in the areas of access to medicines and public health policy, not to mention his remarkable advocacy work at Public Citizen, will be very beneficial to the MPP Governance Board,” said Dr Marie-Paule Kieny, Chair of the MPP Board. “We are delighted to welcome Peter to our Board”.
Peter studied technology law at Berkeley Law School (University of California) and anthropology at The College of William & Mary in Virginia. He is an affiliate fellow with the Information Society Program at Yale Law School. Peter founded International Professional Partnerships for Sierra Leone, a non-profit dedicated to supporting public sector development.
Read more about the work of MPP’s Governance Board:
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.