The Journal of the International AIDS Society (JIAS) supplement,“Advancing use of long-acting and extended delivery (LAED) HIV prevention and treatment regimens” published a paper by Medicines Patent Pool co-authors on voluntary licensing of long-acting HIV prevention and treatment regimens: using a proven collaboration- and competition-based mechanism to rapidly expand at-scale, sustainable, quality-assured and affordable supplies in LMICs.

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The JIAS commentary explained how emerging long-acting (LA) prevention and treatment medicines, technologies and regimens could be game-changing for the HIV response, helping reach the ambitious goal of halting the epidemic by 2030. To attain this goal, the rapid expansion of at-scale, sustainable, quality-assured, and affordable supplies of LA HIV prevention and treatment products through accelerated and stronger competition, involving both originator and generic companies, will be essential.

“To do this, global health stakeholders should take advantage of voluntary licensing of intellectual property (IP) rights, such as through the UN-backed, not-for-profit Medicines Patent Pool, as a proven mechanism to support broad access to existing HIV medicines across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).” shared MPP co-authors, Lobna Gaayeb, Aditi Das, Ike James, Rajesh Murthy, Sandra Nobre, Esteban Burrone, Sébastien Morin

The paper discusses 10 enablers of voluntary licensing of IP rights as a model to rapidly expand at-scale, sustainable, quality-assured, and affordable supplies of LA HIV prevention and treatment regimens in LMICs:

1. Identifying promising LA technology platforms and drug formulations at an early developmental stage and engaging with patent holders

2. Consolidating a multidisciplinary network and strengthening early-stage coordination and collaboration to foster innovation

3. Embedding public health considerations in product design and delivery

4. Building innovative partnerships for product development and commercialization

5. Raising awareness of and creating demand for emerging LA products

6. Estimating the market size, ensuring sufficient competition and protecting sustainability

7. Using technology transfer and hands-on technical support to reduce product development timelines and costs

8. Exploring de-risking mechanisms and financial incentives to support generic manufacturers

9. Optimizing strategies for generic product development and regulatory filings

10. Aligning and coordinating efforts of stakeholders across the value chain.

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