Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Contract: open-ended employment
Travel requirements: extensive travelling required, up to 50% of working time, within and outside EU, including LMICs.
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 (LMICs). 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. MPP’s mandate covers patented medicines for infectious diseases – HIV, TB, hepatitis C and also non-communicable diseases including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, in addition to COVID-19 treatments and technologies and more recently maternal health.
MPP aims to improve access to medicines and health technologies, particularly in LMICs, and facilitate further innovation through nonexclusive voluntary licensing. MPP operates as a non-profit voluntary licensing mechanism through partnerships with originator pharmaceutical companies and generic manufacturers that facilitate access and promote innovation. MPP negotiates licences with patent holders and then sublicenses to multiple manufacturers, who develop and supply the licensed medicines, including new formulations and combinations. The treatments are made available in a defined set of LMICs, sometimes in exchange for royalties.
The MPP’s model has received positive endorsements from the World Health Organization, the Access to Medicine Index, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), UNAIDS, the Lancet Commission on Essential Medicines for Universal Health Coverage, the United Nations High Level Panel on Access to Medicines, the G20 and many governments.
In 2021 WHO together with MPP and a global consortium of partners launched the mRNA Technology Transfer Programme. The mRNA Technology Transfer Programme was set up to address the inequalities in access to vaccines in LMICs that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic. The objectives of the Programme are to establish and enhance sustainable mRNA vaccine manufacturing capacity and to develop skilled human capital in the regions where mRNA vaccine manufacturing capacity is established or can be enhanced.
For more information, please see our website, www.medicinespatentpool.org.
The Business Development and Partnerships Director is responsible for developing new business opportunities with pharmaceutical companies and research institutions and managing relationships with Medicines Patent Pool licensors and sub-licensees. The role holder will work closely with all MPP workstreams to negotiate and agree appropriate licensing arrangements to achieve the public health objectives of the Medicines Patent Pool. As a member of the MPP Executive Leadership Team, the role provides strategic business input and guidance to ensure effective collaboration between MPP, originators and sub-licensees.
The Business Development and Partnerships Director reports directly to the Executive Director and leads the business development workstream including the in-licensing team, alliance management team based in India, and the scientific and medical affairs team. All together the workstream counts 15 staff, of which four will report directly to the future incumbent.
It is the policy and practice of the Medicines Patent Pool to provide equal employment to qualified individuals (employees and applicants) regardless of their race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, nationality, ethnic origin, marital status, disability, and to conform to all applicable laws and regulations.
Salary is commensurate with experience. The Medicines Patent Pool offers an attractive compensation and benefits package.
Please send a cover letter and CV to our recruitment partner, oprandi & partner, Dr Bruno Peterer, Senior Partner at peterer@oprandi.ch, +41 79 471 70 32 by 31 December 2024
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.