6 December 2017
Geneva, 6 December 2017 — The Medicines Patent Pool Governance Board has appointed Patrizia Carlevaro, co-founder of the technology company GenomSys, as a new board member, effective 1 December. Dr. Carlevaro, formerly Managing Director of Otsuka and Head of the International AID Unit at Eli Lilly and Company in Geneva, has had a long, distinguished career in public health, specifically in the research and development-based pharmaceutical industry. At Otsuka, she was responsible for subsidiary operations and the anti-infective business unit’s public health projects. At Lilly, where she served for almost a decade, Dr. Carlevaro developed and managed the company’s global Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) Partnership programme, conducting transfer of technology programmes for TB compounds to local manufacturers in China, India, South Africa and Russia.
“We are pleased to welcome Patrizia to the MPP Governance Board,” said Marie-Paule Kieny, Chair of the Board. “With her many years of experience in pharmaceuticals, specifically working in disease areas such as TB, we are sure she will make a valuable contribution.”
Dr. Carlevaro served as a senior advisor for essential drugs at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in New York from 1988-1995 where she led UNICEF’s global pharmaceutical policy and activities. She has a doctorate in chemical and pharmaceutical technologies from the Università degli Studi in Pavia, Italy.
Dr. Carlevaro takes the position of Michel Manon who completed his two-year tenure on the MPP Governance Board in April 2017.
The MPP’s HIV, hepatitis C and tuberculosis activities are fully funded by Unitaid.
Read more about Patrizia and the MPP Governance Board
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.
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.