From sales of medicines to impact on peoples’ lives, the Medicines Patent Pool’s work is a game-changer in the access to treatments space.
patent holders with MPP signed agreements
generic manufacturers and product developers have had sublicences from MPP
From the supply of medicines to impact on peoples’ lives, MPP’s work is a game-changer in access to treatments for people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
Saving money and lives: The Impact of MPP
MPP has had tremendous impact since its inception in 2010, with billions of doses of treatments supplied to LMICs through access-oriented voluntary licensing.
Through a rigorous impact assessment methodology[1], MPP makes annual estimations of what its work means in terms of economic and health benefits for people in LMICs. This helps quantify the money and lives saved by MPP and its partners.
To calculate its impact, MPP compares the difference between having an MPP licence and not having an MPP licence by deploying factual and counter-factual scenarios. Using country-level modelling that is then aggregated to the global level, MPP’s methodology assumes that more optimal health products have been supplied and made available to more people because the generic competition enabled by MPP’s licences for these products has made them more affordable.
In turn, this increased uptake creates a positive economic and health impact. Thanks to MPP licences, more people are able to live healthier, longer lives, and this is achieved with less public health funding than would otherwise have been needed.
Impact: A Collective Response
The impact of MPP’s work is enabled by numerous partners: patent holders, generic manufacturers, procurement agencies, funders, governments, civil society, and communities of people affected by HIV, HCV, COVID-19 and other diseases. This impact is part of broader global health efforts to roll out optimal treatments in LMICs for which our licensees are key contributors. Together, we recognise and thank all these partners for their contribution in enabling the collective impact of products supplied by MPP licensees, as well as the direct, incremental impact of MPP licences more specifically.
Table 1
Since 2010, billions of doses of treatment have been produced and supplied by MPP’s licensees. The patient-reach and health impact of these products is far-reaching.
To calculate this collective impact, MPP’s models assume that these products would not otherwise have been available, and users would have either not accessed treatment at all or would have only been able to access the next best option available. The results show that, as a result of the optimal WHO-recommended products supplied by MPP licensees, millions of people have had access to better treatments and have been able to live healthier and longer lives.
The Incremental Impact of MPP’s Licences
MPP’s impact methodology places an emphasis on exploring the incremental effects of MPP licences over and above what would have otherwise happened in the absence of MPP. As such, MPP is able to estimate the direct contribution of its licences in increasing the overall number of people on treatment, as an increment of the overall patient-reach of products supplied by its licensees (see table 1).
Based on these estimated additional uptake numbers, MPP is then also able to calculate:
Through an analysis of drug supply data obtained from MPP licensees, MPP’s impact models allow an estimation of impact achieved to date, as well as future projections, by using the best available treatment uptake forecasts. This showcases the benefits of the long-term management of existing MPP licences.
Table 2
Read KPMG’s ‘Final MPP Impact Statement 2025’
[1] MPP’s impact assessment methodology was developed with technical support from Cambridge Economic Policy Associates (CEPA) and funding from Unitaid. The methodology was published in The Lancet Public Health in 2021 in a research article, The economic and public health impact of intellectual property licensing of medicines for low-income and middle-income countries: a modelling study.
[2] These indicators report on the amounts of medicines supplied by MPP licensees, both in terms of the number of doses and the corresponding number of people treated (reported as patient-years, where one patient-year corresponds to the quantity of medicines needed to treat one person for one year). For the calculation of total patient-years, the amount of drugs needed for treating one patient for HCV (which is curable, not a lifelong treatment) is counted as one patient-year. This is what MPP licensees have produced and delivered.
[3] These indicators estimate the health impact deriving from the use of products supplied by MPP licensees, assuming that these products would otherwise not have been available and, depending on the product, that users would have either not had access to an alternative product or would have taken the next best option available.
[4] This indicator measures the contribution of MPP licences in growing the number of people on licensed products. It looks at the additional uptake of WHO-recommended MPP-licensed medicines compared to a scenario in absence of MPP, considering that at times the same product would have otherwise been procured but at higher prices. This is how much more of these optimal products were used because of MPP licences.
[5] This indicator reports on the health benefits brought by increased access to WHO-recommended MPP-licensed products compared to a scenario where these would not have been licensed by MPP. These increments in health benefits are those that the people in affected communities have gained from greater use of optimal products over alternative therapeutic options.
[6] This indicator reports on the number of years of healthy life that would have been lost to disability induced by no or suboptimal alternative therapy in absence of MPP. This is the number of healthy years that people in affected communities have gained from greater use of optimal products over alternative therapeutic options.
[7] The number of HIV treatment failures that would have taken place in absence of MPP. This is the long-term value of MPP-enabled HIV treatment for people living with HIV on antiretroviral therapy, helping them also benefit from U=U (undetectable = untransmittable).
[8] This indicator reports on the actual financial savings for governments, funders, procurement agencies, and other buyers and implementers brought by accessing MPP-licensed products compared to a scenario where these would not have been licensed by MPP. These are the actual cost savings that MPP licences have enabled.
[9] This indicator looks at the investment (or additional expenditure) that would have been needed for the same level of optimal drug uptake in absence of MPP. This is what the global health community would have had to invest to advance health in the same way (that is, by procuring the same volumes of licensed drugs as is happening).