Aurobindo Pharma gets royalty-free licence for AIDS drug

Aurobindo Pharma has become the first major generic drug maker to gain royalty-free production and supply rights for five AIDS medicines through an agreement with Geneva-based Medicines Patent Pool. The company will sell these medicines in 18 developing countries at a price less than that of the innovator’s products.

The Medicines Patent Pool had secured the production licences for these products from US-based drug manufacturer Gilead Sciences. Incidentally, Gilead has independent royalty-based supply agreements for these medicines with several Indian companies, including Aurobindo.

A senior executive of Aurobindo said the company will terminate its agreement with Gilead and supply to more countries.

 

The Medicines Patent Pool is funded and set up by UNITAID, an innovative financing mechanism established in 2006 by the governments of Brazil, Chile, France, Norway and the United Kingdom, to provide additional funding for the fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

The Pool negotiates with the patent holder of a given medicine, a pharmaceutical company, research institute, government, university, etc, to voluntarily share their patents with them. In other words, it will make the patent holder permit another producer to manufacture and sell generic versions of the medicine in developing countries, or develop adapted formulations in exchange for a royalty payment on any sales of the drug.

However, the Pool approach has its own share of controversies and has been opposed by dozens of civil society and health groups worldwide. In a recent representation before the board of director of the Medicines Patent Pool, representatives of such organisations had sought re-evaluation of the current structure of the Medicines Patent Pool Foundation, including its governance and administration, goals and mission, and implement comprehensive reforms designed to enhance its transparency, accountability and adherence to core principles of health equity.

The civil society groups had also sought “immediate moratorium on negotiations of any new license agreements, including any new or pending agreements with Indian generic producers or with other multinational drug companies until such time as standard terms and conditions or a model agreement is agreed to”.