H.I.V.: National Institutes of Health Licenses Its Patent on a New Drug for AIDS

The rights to the N.I.H. patent on
the drug, darunavir, do not mean
that generic-drug makers will
instantly be able to make it
cheaply for poor countries, since
other darunavir patents are held
by private companies, including
Tibotec, a Johnson & Johnson
subsidiary.
But it increases pressure on drug
makers to follow suit. They have
been reluctant because they fear
losing the profits they could make
as once-poor countries become
richer, as India and Brazil have.
Also, they fear losing control over
quality, since a bad batch of a
generic could hurt the reputations
of their patented drugs. Instead,
they have tended to cut private
deals with generic makers.
The pool is run by Unitaid, an
independent agency founded at
the United Nations in 2006. Its
original mission was to accept the
receipts from several taxes
dedicated to global health —
mostly from a fee on European
airline tickets. The money has been
spent on AIDS drugs for children
and second-line drugs.
“We ask that companies step up
and collaborate so we can quickly
see more affordable, easy-to-use
pills getting into people ’s mouths,”
said Nelson Otwoma, head of
Kenya ’s Network of People Living
with H.I.V./AIDS and a Unitaid
board member.