UNITAID continues funding the Patent Pool, paediatric HIV medicines and malaria
1 February 2012. Related: Treatment access.
On 14 December, UNITAID Executive Board announced its continued commitment to scaling up access for HIV/AIDS and malaria by allocating an extra US$138 million to HIV and malaria.
This included support for four years for the Medicines Patent Pool to negotiate voluntary licenses from brand companies to generic manufacturers to facilitate affordable access to HIV/AIDS medicines in developing countries.
“Precisely because funding for AIDS is threatened by the economic crisis, we need to leverage all the tools at our disposal to ensure staunch commitment to increase treatment coverage,” said Philippe Douste-Blazy, Chairman of the UNITAID Executive Board. “Innovative mechanisms that can increase treatment availability and decrease prices, such as the Pool, are critical components of UNITAID’s strategy to address the funding gap… The Pool has achieved promising results in its first year and we urge all pharmaceutical companies to enter into licensing agreements to breach the gap of 15 million people who need treatment.”
The UNITAID Board committed US$62 million to continue supporting the scale-up of HIV/AIDS treatment for children in partnership with the Clinton Health Access Initiative. US$50 million was committed to the Global Fund to increase access to artemisinin-based combination therapy in the eight African countries that bear the largest malaria burden.
Source: UNITAID press release: UNITAID continues funding the Patent Pool and paediatric HIV medicines: Additional US$50 Million Allotted to Malaria. (14 December 2012).