Gilead expands accord with MPP to South Africa

US biotech giant Gilead Sciences (Nasdaq: GILD) has expanded its current licensing agreement with the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) for generic manufacture of antiretrovirals tenofovir alafenamide (TAF), tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) and other Gilead medicines.

The amendment enhances the MPP's current licence by allowing South African manufacturers to join Indian and Chinese companies in developing generics for low- and middle-income countries.

"We welcome the move by Gilead Sciences to broaden the manufacturing base of the current MPP licence," said Greg Perry, executive director of the MPP. "The revision could contribute to local production of several important antiretrovirals in South Africa and increase supply to other sub-Saharan African countries with the world's highest HIV burden," he noted.