GSK: please extend patent pool to AIDS drugs

Facilitating access of AIDS drugs while maintaining strong patent protection.

The AIDS pandemic has thrust the subject of patent protection into the spotlight, a spotlight that has attracted the attention of broad audience including interested parties from the political, legal, and medical communities. Can the United States' scheme of strong patent protection for pharmaceutical products withstand the increased attention?

Patent pool formation: Timing matters

This paper addresses the problem of non-cooperative patent pool formation by owners of patents related to a standard. We develop a model in which competing manufacturers must license several patents to produce standard-compliant goods. Separate licensing creates a double-marginalization problem. Moreover manufacturers must sink a fixed cost to enter the product market, and thus face a hold-up p...

Designing ARVs Patent Pool Up to Trade & Policy Evolutionary Dynamics

Patent pools for second and third-line Fixed Dose Combination (FDC) antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) should not be delayed as they are instrumental to urgent public health needs in the under-served markets.Nonetheless, multinational originator companies still seem to perceive patent pooling for ARVs as a minefield that would offer the generic competitors lots of deeply exploitable opportunities, to ...

Recommendations to the UNITAID Patent Pool Initiative: A “Square” Model

Early commitments help patent pool formation

This paper explores in what circumstances patent owners can be expected to join unilaterally a patent pool. We develop a simple model in which owners of patents reading on a standard grant licences to competing manufacturers. Manufacturers must sink a …xed cost to enter the market for standard compliant products, and are thus exposed to a hold up when royalties are set after their entry. We sho...