The Pool’s work depends on partnerships with stakeholders in the HIV field, and its partnerships with patent holding companies are critical to its success.

The Pool has now received responses from all of the patent holders, and has signed three licence agreements, with Gilead Sciences, ViiV Healthcare [a joint venture of GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Shionogi], and the US National Institutes of Health.

Boehringer-Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead, Roche and ViiV Healthcare (a joint venture of GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer) are in active negotiations with the Pool.

The Pool has also sub-licensed to generic manufacturers, who are already beginning to produce and supply HIV medicines at a lower cost. As of April 2013, the Pool had signed five sub-licensing agreements: to Aurobindo Pharma Limited, Emcure Pharmaceuticals, Hetero Labs, Laurus Labs, and Shasun Pharma Solutions. These sub-licensing agreements are for patents licensed to the Pool by Gilead in July 2011.

The Pool looks forward to continuing dialogue with all relevant patent holders and eligible generic manufacturers and product development partnerships in order to achieve the goal of increasing access to medicines for people living with HIV in developing countries.

The tables below summarise the current status of engagement with patent holders, and with generic manufacturers and product development partnerships.

Patent Holder Engagement

Engagement with Generic Manufacturers