Now Boehringer and Bristol-Myers in talks to join Medicines Patent Pool for HIV medicines

Following swiftly on its first deal with a pharmaceutical company, the Medicines Patent Pool, which was established in 2010 by UNITAID, has begun negotiations with independent German drug major Boehringer Ingelheim and the USA’s Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) for patents on HIV medicines essential to treating people living with HIV in the developing world.

The Pool was already in negotiation with five other patent holders and concluded its first licensing agreement with a leading HIV drugmaker, Gilead Sciences, a week ago (The Pharma Letter July 12).

The United Nations has set a target of treating 15 million people by 2015. Reaching this goal is possible, but only if appropriate, affordable treatments can be made widely accessible to the people who need them. The Medicines Patent Pool is working to bring down the prices of HIV drugs and encourage the development of new formulations, such as medicines for children, through voluntary licensing of critical intellectual property.