Medicines Patent Pool (MPP)

Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) is a United Nations backed public health organisation that works to get affordable, quality assured versions of patented medicines to people in low and middle income countries. It does this by negotiating voluntary licenses with pharmaceutical companies that hold drug patents, then passing those licenses on to generic manufacturers who can produce and sell the medicines at a fraction of the original price.

India sits at the centre of how this model actually works. Most of the generic medicines that MPP licenses, for HIV, hepatitis C, tuberculosis, cancer and COVID-19, are manufactured by Indian pharmaceutical companies and exported from India to dozens of other countries. Firms such as Cipla, Aurobindo, Viatris, Mylan, Micro Labs, Emcure, Hetero, Eugia and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories have all signed sublicence agreements with MPP over the years, making India the organisation’s single largest manufacturing base. MPP has also engaged directly with India’s own health priorities, including a 2023 statement by its Executive Director at the G20 Health Working Group meeting in Kerala, and ongoing coverage of India’s hepatitis C elimination efforts through local partners such as the Apno ki Awaaz initiative.

Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland

Major Areas of Work

• HIV and hepatitis C treatment access: Licensing antiretrovirals and direct acting antivirals for generic production, with Indian manufacturers supplying much of the global generic HIV and hepatitis C medicine used in lower income countries.
• Tuberculosis treatment: Licensing investigational and existing TB medicines for wider, more affordable access.
• Cancer and non-communicable diseases: Extending the licensing model beyond infectious disease, including MPP’s first cancer medicine licence (nilotinib), sublicensed to Indian firms Eugia, Hetero and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories.
• Pandemic preparedness and technology transfer: Negotiating licenses for COVID-19 treatments and running an mRNA technology transfer programme, including agreements that brought Indian manufacturers into producing generic COVID-19 antivirals.
• Patent transparency and data tools: Running MedsPaL, a public database of patents and licences on essential medicines, now marking its tenth year.

Major Initiatives & Programmes

• Licensing for Public Health: MPP’s core model of negotiating non-exclusive, voluntary licenses with originator companies and passing them to generic manufacturers, with Indian companies forming the largest group of sublicensees across nearly every disease area MPP covers.
• Long Acting Therapeutics and AccessPaL: Supporting newer, longer acting treatment options, including a 2023 sublicence agreement with Aurobindo, Cipla and Viatris to produce a generic version of a long acting HIV prevention medicine.
• COVID-19 antiviral access: Sublicensing generic versions of oral COVID-19 treatments to manufacturers worldwide, with reports naming 19 firms in India among those approved to produce the Pfizer antiviral for export.
• mRNA Technology Transfer Programme: Building regional capacity for mRNA vaccine and treatment manufacturing in low and middle income countries.
• Addressing Children’s Needs: Prioritising child-friendly formulations of licensed medicines.

Impact

Nearly 2 billion people worldwide lack access to high quality essential medicines, and MPP’s licensing model exists to close that gap, most visibly through India’s generics industry. An annual course of HIV treatment that costs around USD 10,000 in Europe is available for under USD 70 in parts of Africa, a difference made possible largely because Indian manufacturers can produce the generic version under license. With around 40 million people living with HIV, 1.3 million annual deaths from hepatitis related causes, and 1.25 million annual TB deaths worldwide, the scale of what Indian generic production enables is significant. MPP has also documented this impact directly in India, producing a series of impact videos in 2020 featuring patients, doctors and government officials describing how access to quality assured HIV and hepatitis C generics changed outcomes on the ground.

Leadership

• Executive Director – Charles Gore
• Chair, Governance Board – Marie-Paule Kieny

Medicines Patent Pool is an excellent fit for professionals passionate about public health, pharmaceutical policy, patent law and global health equity, particularly anyone interested in how India’s generic drug industry shapes access to medicine for millions of people worldwide.