Context:
Recently, the COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) has announced three new licensing agreements acquired through the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP).
Relevance:
Facts for Prelims
Dimensions of the Article:
- About C-TAP Initiative
- Medicines Patent Pool (MPP)
About C-TAP Initiative
- Launch: C-TAP (COVID-19 Technology Access Pool) was launched in May 2020 in collaboration between the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Government of Costa Rica. It has garnered support from 44 Member States, UN Development Programme, Unitaid, UNAIDS, and implementing partners such as the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP).
- Principles: C-TAP operates based on the principles outlined in the Solidarity Call to Action.
- Objective: The initiative serves as a platform where developers of COVID-19 therapeutics, diagnostics, vaccines, and other health products voluntarily share their intellectual property, knowledge, and data. This sharing is aimed at accelerating technological innovation and expanding global production capacity to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
Medicines Patent Pool (MPP)
- Description: The Medicines Patent Pool is a public health organization supported by the United Nations. Its primary objective is to increase access to life-saving medicines for countries with low- and middle-income populations.
- Approach: MPP employs an innovative business model and collaborates with various stakeholders, including civil society, governments, international organizations, the pharmaceutical industry, patient groups, and others. The organization prioritizes and licenses essential medicines and pools intellectual property to encourage generic manufacturing and the development of new medication formulations.
