Last month, Gilead Sciences agreed to license four AIDS drugs to the Medicines Patent Pool, which is an initiative designed to streamline patent licensing for producing generics of patented HIV meds and lower prices in poor countries. The deal marked the first time that a drugmaker took this step and followed more than a year of criticism from patient advocacy groups and non-government organizations of the pharmaceutical industry for failing to embrace the MPP concept. Despite the progress, though, there was significant criticism (here is the back story and the licensing agreement). To gain some insight, we spoke with Michelle Childs, the director of policy and advocacy for Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines, which is run by Medicins Sans Frontieres, also known as Doctors Without Borders. Here is what she had to say…
