The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) has signed a new license with AbbVie, to expand access to pediatric formulations of lopinavir (LPV) and ritonavir (r). The details of the licenses are available here:
According to the Expert Advisory Group Report, the licenses cover 99 percent of children living with HIV. Among the significant details of the licenses are a grant back royalty bearing license to permit AbbVie to use or resell new formulations in higher income countries.
It is good news that AbbView has entered into its first license with the MPP, and one hopes that AbbVie will continue to engage, also as regards adult uses of these two drugs, both developed with the benefit of NIH/NIAID research grant AI027220.
The coverage in the license is the most inclusive of any voluntary license for HIV, in terms of the pediatric population the license is intended to serve, and it is without a doubt welcome news for children living with HIV, some of whom are poorly served by existing formulations. The MPP Expert Advisory Group Report provides details of these and several other relevant issues in terms of the medical importance of improved formulations. What one hopes is that the licenses can be an inducement for greater investment in the development of the new formulations, by firms that see the new larger market and the royalty bearing grant back provision as a positive.