Medicines Patent Pool

Medicines Patent Pool is formed to make newer HIV drugs more accessible to people in low- and middle-income countries. The Pool allows generic manufacturers to make generic versions of key drugs in exchange for a fair royalty paid to the drugs inventor. As the Pool holds the patent license, rather than a big pharmaceutical company, licenses can be more easily negotiated. This makes the process more efficient for all parties. The first patent holder to license a drug to the Patent Pool was the National Institutes of Health for the drug darunavir.