The Medicines Patent Pool is improving access to essential medication where it’s most needed, but does it make economic sense?

The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) is a not-for-profit organisation founded in 2010 with the support of the United Nations. Its mission is to improve access to essential medicines in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). It negotiates voluntary licences with patent holders – typically, pharmaceutical companies – before granting non-exclusive and geographically limited sublicences to manufacturers in targeted countries, where the originator companies, i.e; those that bring new medicinal products to the market are typically not active. This results in low or no royalty payments by sublicencees to patent holders, together with competition among multiple sublicencees in the targeted geographic markets, which helps reduce the price of medicines.