The World Health Organization (WHO) as well as the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) applaud the announcement by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) of the United States that various inventions will be offered to the COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) for prospective licencing through MPP. In the presence of WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Anthony Fauci, NIAID Director and Chief Medical Advisor to the President of the United States, the announcement was made today at the US COVID-19 Dialogue with Ministers of Health. As per WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, he was grateful to the National Institutes of Health for their offer of novel COVID-19 medicines, vaccines, and diagnostic technologies. He added that voluntary technology sharing through non-exclusive agreements would not only aid in the eradication of the pandemic; this will enable low- and middle-income economies to develop their own medical items and attain fair access
Back in 2010, when MPP was founded, NIH was the first to provide their patents for an HIV product to them, stated Charles Gore, MPP Executive Director. When the negotiations are completed, they will be privileged to accept a public health-driven, transparent, non-exclusive licencing deal with NIH under the aegis of C-TAP, with the goal of providing access to such technological innovations to people in need around the world and thereby aiding in the end of the pandemic.
C-TAP was founded in 2020 by the WHO Director-General and the President of Costa Rica, with support from 43 Member States, with the goal of facilitating prompt, fair, and cheap access to COVID-19 health goods through open, non-exclusive licencing terms. MPP is in charge of licencing for this project and owns the appropriate permits.