[Ip-health] UNITAID Statement on GSK Patent Pool For Neglected Diseases

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://www.unitaid.eu/index.php/en/NEWS/UNITAID-Statement-on-GSK-Patent-Poo=
l-For-Neglected-Diseases.html

Geneva, 16 February 2009 =97 UNITAID welcomes GlaxoSmithKline=92s (GSK=92s)
announcement last week that it will tackle neglected diseases in least
developed countries and place its patents for the necessary medicines
into a pool.

=93This is a positive signal from an originator company,=94 said Dr Jorge
Bermudez, Executive Secretary of UNITAID, =93that industry intends to do
more for diseases in poor countries.=94

The UNITAID Executive Board gave the go-ahead in July 2008 for the
establishment of a UNITAID patent pool to expand access to medicines
indeveloping countries.  The UNITAID pool will start with HIV
therapies,which are not included in the GSK announced list of
treatments, and will target low- and middle-income countries.

=93Patent pools are increasingly seen as a useful tool in tackling
barriers to access indeveloping countries,=94 said Dr Philippe Douste-
Blazy, Chair of UNITAID's Executive Board.  =93Sharing knowledge and
technologies and putting them at the service of global health is key
to truly expanding treatments for all populations.=94

About six million people who need HIV therapy today are not receiving
it due largely to price barriers and the lack of  more appropriate
treatments for patients in poor countries.  For instance, more fixed-
dose combinations (several pills in one) are needed to promote patient
adherence as well as more affordable second-line treatments for people
who have developed resistance to conventional therapies and more child-
specific formulations.

The UNITAID patent pool will work with global health authorities to
come up with a list of priority medicines.  Patent holders will be
able to place their patents into the pool voluntarily. The idea is for
other companies, including generic manufacturers, to take out licenses
on those medicines and produce them in combined or improved form and,
ultimately, stimulate competition to bring prices down.

  =93We also need to make sure that newer, safer and more effective
medicines are available to the poor as soon as possible,=94said Ellen =91t
Hoen, UNITAID Senior Advisor on Intellectual Property. =93Those newer
medicines can sometimes be patent protected for as long as 20 years.
People already diagnosed with HIV cannot wait that long.=94

The UNITAID patent pool aims to become operational towards the end of
2009.

For more information, contact:

Ellen 't Hoen,
UNITAID Senior Advisor, Intellectual Property,
tel. +33 622 37 58 71

or

Daniela Bagozzi,
UNITAID Media and Communication,
tel. +41 22 791 45 44,
mob. +41 (0)79475 54 90

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Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
thiru@keionline.org


Tel: +41 22 791 6727
Mobile: +41 76 508 0997