The UNITAID Patent Pool Initiative: Bringing Patents Together for the Common Good.
Developing and delivering appropriate, affordable, well-adapted medicines for HIV remains an urgent challenge: as first-line therapies fail, increasing numbers of people require costly second-line therapy; one-third of antiretrovirals are not available in paediatric formulations; and certain key first- and second-line triple fixed-dose combinations do not exist or sufficient suppliers are lacking. UNITAID aims to help solve these problems through an innovative initiative for the collective management of intellectual property rights - a patent pool for HIV medicines. The idea behind a patent pool is that patent holders - companies, governments, researchers or universities - voluntarily offer, under certain conditions, the intellectual property related to their inventions to the patent pool. Any company that wants to use the intellectual property to produce or develop medicines can seek a license from the pool against the payment of royalties, and may then produce the medicines for use in developing countries (conditional upon meeting agreed quality standards). The patent pool will be a voluntary mechanism, meaning its success will largely depend on the willingness of pharmaceutical companies to participate and commit their intellectual property to the pool. Generic producers must also be willing to cooperate. The pool has the potential to provide benefits to all.
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Editors’ note: UNITAID, launched at the UN General Assembly in September 2006 by Brazil, Chile, France, Norway, and the United Kingdom, is an innovative financing mechanism that has expanded to include more than 29 countries and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Some are providing multi-year budgetary contributions while others have placed a solidarity tax on airline tickets. A full plane from Paris to New York raises enough money to cover a year of antiretroviral treatment for 60 HIV-positive children. In addition to dedicating at least 85% of its spending on products for low-income countries, UNITAID is committed to a pro-health approach to intellectual property. The concept of patent pools is very timely now. Fixed dose combinations of the new WHO recommended first line of tenofovir, lamivudine, and nevirapine or efavirenz, do not exist or are limited in supply. Affordable second line drugs are urgently needed for patients failing first line therapy and a third of antiretroviral drugs are not available in paediatric formulation. Patent terms are normally 20 years. Patent pools have worked, for example, in agriculture, aeronautics, and information technology when relevant patents for a process are owned by many different entities. They reward pharmaceutical companies for their investment in research and development, give them a reputational boost, reduce transaction costs associated with negotiating individual license and price reductions, and avert the risk of compulsory licensing of their products. Patent pools provide generic companies access to intellectual property more easily and quickly and they ensure faster access to better, more affordable antiretroviral treatment for patients in low-income countries. Under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), governments can and do override patents to meet public health needs. However, a less complex and more timely process would be a voluntary patent pool. It is time to step up to the plate!
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