UNITAID exploring a revolutionary way of delivering HIV drugs to all
December 10th, 2008This post was written by Diarmaid. You can read more posts by: Diarmaid or more posts in Campaign News
With your help a ‘Patent Pool’ system currently being investigated could help deliver affordable treatment to the millions around the world who are currently dying because they aren’t getting the HIV drugs they need to survive.
Used in WWI to accelerate advances in primitive aeroplane technology, patent pools have been applied to lots of thing, but never HIV medicines. The decision by UNITAID – an international drug-purchasing organisation of which the UK government is a Board member – to establish a patent pool task force could change all that - and the state of access to treatment - forever.
New Approach
At the moment, when a new drug is invented the pharmaceutical company who invent it apply for patent protection of their invention – giving them a 20 year exclusive licence to make and sell it. This monopoly means they can charge whatever they like for the drug as there is no competition to force the price down. This has a very significant impact on the affordability of the drug; at the moment older HIV drugs which are being produced by competing generic manufacturers can be bought for $87 per patient per year; newer versions made by only one company sell at very best for around $487. Even more advanced treatments cost over $5500 – again a specially negotiated ‘cheap’ price for the developing world.
A patent pool, if introduced, should help to bring those prices right down. Here’s how it would work:
Firstly, pharmaceutical companies and universities voluntarily hand over the patents of the HIV drugs they have invented to the UNITAID Patent Pool, which will independently manage them. Competing drug manufacturers will then be able to apply to the patent pool for the right to produce cheap, unbranded versions of the drugs to be sold in low and middle income countries. In return the inventors receive a fair royalty fee every time their patent is used. Check out this link for more on how it all works.
Treatment for Children
The system not only allows competition to drive prices down, but also encourages innovation by allowing researchers to do further research on the patents and perhaps combine different drugs together to make new treatments.
This ability to innovate is particularly important for the two million children living with HIV around the world. The vast majority of these children live in poverty in Africa and therefore aren’t a particularly profitable market – as a result the major pharmaceuticals haven’t invested enough in child formulations of HIV drugs. Tragically, less than ten per cent of the children who need treatment are getting it. The knowledge for making these treatments already exists but the Pool would release that knowledge, giving companies access to the patents they need to develop child-friendly drugs.
Join the Push
The patent pool holds the potential to revolutionise the production of HIV treatments forever and makes the prospect of achieving the G8 pledge of universal access to HIV treatment by 2010, much more realistic. In order for this to happen though we need the co-operation of pharmaceutical companies, universities, governments and UNITAID. The more people like you who support our campaign, the more likely we are to get that co-operation.
Join the Push for the Pool Campaign by signing our e-petition and we’ll add your name to the thousands of others pushing for universal access by 2010. We’ll keep you informed about the campaign and let you know when we need you to take further action to bring all the players on board. Your voice will be crucial in making this a reality – make sure it is heard by the government, the pharmaceuticals and the UNITAID board when they come to make the decision on whether to setup the pool next year.
You can find out the answers to some common questions here, watch this water-clogged explanation here, and the join the big push here.
