WHO welcomes new initiatives by some innovator
companies to license their patents for certain HIV/AIDS medicines to generic
manufacturers.
Such voluntary licensing can increase
competition, reduce prices, and thereby give poorer people greater access
to medicines. Candidate products for voluntary licensing include those
with established safety, efficacy and public health relevance for priority
health problems. Ideally, such products should be those included
in international and national treatment guidelines, and products with the
potential for low-cost production. Licensing arrangements should ensure
that regulatory authorities have access to quality assurance standards
for the product.
Last year, the World Health Organization, with over 50 partner organizations, launched the International HIV Treatment Access Coalition. This coalition has set as its target to provide access to antiretroviral medicines for at least half of the six million people with HIV/AIDS in low and middle income countries who need them, by 2005. Achieving this ambitious goal depends on continued decreases in the prices of ARVs, as well as adequate international and national financing and effective delivery systems.
For more information please contact Communications Officer Jon Lidén Tel +41 79 244 6006, e-mail: lidenj@who.int