[Ip-health] International organizations ask GSK to join HIV "patent pool"

Tue Sep 8 09:57:10 2009

--
[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
http://localtechwire.com/business/local_tech_wire/news/blogpost/5949889/

*Local Tech Wire*

*RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. =96* A group of organizations seeking to stop
AIDS has made a formal request to drug giant
GlaxoSmithKline<http://www.gsk.com/>(NYSE:
GSK <http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/wral?Page=3DQUOTE&Ticker=3DGSK>) =
to
join a =93patent pool=94 in which companies could make access to HIV drugs =
more
widely available in poorer countries.

The U.K. Guardian reported late Sunday that a letter making the request had
been sent to GSK Chief Executive Officer Andrew Witty.

"The Unitaid patent pool is our best hope of increasing access to
life-saving medicines on the scale that is needed to achieve universal
access.,=94 said Alan Smith, chair of the Stop Aids campaign, according to =
the
Guardian.

"It is crucial that Andrew Witty and GSK =85 engage in an honest and positi=
ve
manner with the Unitaid taskforce,=94 he added.

Witty recently toured an economic development project in Africa that is
supported by the Guardian. Asked about the patent pool being organized by
Unitaid <http://www.unitaid.eu/>, he said he was not familiar with all the
project=92s details.

Fifteen organizations signed the letter, according to the Guardian. Among
them were:

=95 Stop Aids Campaign
=95 Medecins Sans Frontieres
=95 Unicef
=95 Christian Aid

The goals of Unitaid, according to its web site:

=95 Increasing access to appropriate AIDS treatment for children and ensuri=
ng
drug prices come down;
=95 Expanding access to second-line treatment and helping bring prices down
through increased market competition; and
=95 Supporting the scale-up of Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission
(PMTCT) programmes.

For the full Guardian report, click
here.<http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/sep/06/glaxosmithkline-hiv-dr=
ugs-urged>

GSK maintains its U.S. headquarters in RTP and employs some 4,000 people in
the Triangle area.

--
UNITAID - Medicines Patent Pool Initiative
20 Avenue Appia // 1211 Geneva 27 // Switzerland
Tel +41 22 791 3778 // Fax +41 22 791 4890
utdmppi@gmail.com // borolim@who.int // www.unitaid.eu

What is a Patent Pool?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DVj0dbFgjoh4