Medicines Patent Pool's signature database upgraded to include patent and licensing data for HIV, hepatitis C and TB medicines.

TB is the leading cause of death for people living with HIV and killed 1.5 million people globally in 2014 alone. TB treatment has become more complex, particularly with the emergence of multidrug-resistant strains of TB. The Medicines Patent Pool, the world’s only voluntary licensing mechanism in public health, will now work to ensure access to new treatments for drug-resistant and drug-susceptible TB.

As part of its ongoing consultation processes on the possibility of the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) expanding into other disease areas, the organisation has published independent feasibility studies exploring the case for potential entry into hepatitis C and tuberculosis.

The MPP acknowledges the recent response and input from various civil society organisations and treatment groups on the Foundation’s ongoing assessments to determine the feasibility of extending its mandate to include medicines for hepatitis C (HCV) and tuberculosis (TB).

The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) is seeking proposals from individuals and organisations to assess the feasibility of expanding the mandate of the MPP into tuberculosis (TB). The proposed timeframe for the provision of the consultancy services is 15^th November 2014 to 27^th February 2015.

An analysis by think tank Results for Development concluded that the Medicines Patent Pool as established by UNITAID could speed up development of fixed-dose combination pills, paediatric medicines and heat stable formulations needed in resource-poor settings, as well as help stimulate generic manufacture of lower cost medicines. And that it will need a critical mass of companies to participate in order to succeed.