Expanding Access to Vital Technologies

“For countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, as well as Southeast Europe, the MPP and UNITAID solutions of expanding access to healthcare technology offer great promise. Indeed, commercial interests in the form of patents and licenses should not be a barrier to gaining access to medical, including medication, laboratory and instrumental care during the global crisis. At stake is the most valuable thing - the life of millions of people”.
Sergii Filippovych Director of the SoS_project at the Alliance for Public Health
“I urge all countries, companies and research institutions to maintain open data, open science and open collaboration so that all people can take advantage of science and research”
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO)

Task

Patents and licenses for modern medications for the treatment of various diseases (in particular, such as HIV infection and related opportunistic infections, tuberculosis and others) limit the competition of offers, promote non-transparent pricing and the high cost of treatment. As a result, access to the necessary medicines for a large number of people requiring treatment is difficult, and effective timely counteraction to the spread of diseases is complicated, and it is impossible to reduce mortality and to improve the quality of life of the world’s population.

Solution

UNITAID focused entirely on work in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Work was conducted with the Patent Pool of Medicines (MPP) to voluntarily pooling of intellectual property rights in medicines and diagnostics to help the global fight against the disease. The MPP, created by UNITAID ten years ago, has a proven record and is able to start work immediately with the support of WHO.

Result

The MPP Council made a decision to expand temporarily its mandate including any healthcare technology that could contribute to a global response to COVID-19 and where licensing could facilitate innovation and access.
This will allow the MPP to offer its intellectual property and licensing experience to the World Health Organization (WHO) to help the world cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The MPP decision came after UNITAID announced the allocation of $ 30 million for innovative products for the treatment and diagnosis of respiratory diseases as part of the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic.