WIPO and Pharma Team up to Facilitate Access to Key Medicine Patent Information

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the research-based pharmaceutical industry today launched a new partnership to promote the accessibility of patent information for health agencies tasked with procurement of medicines.

WIPO Director General Francis Gurry and Thomas Cueni, Director General of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), signed an agreement establishing the Patent Information Initiative for Medicines, or “Pat-INFORMED,” on the sidelines of the Assemblies of the Member States of WIPO.

WIPO and IFPMA are co-sponsors of the initiative, which originated in the industry’s efforts to add clarity to the patent information around medicines. It couples the industry’s work in this area with WIPO’s expertise in organizing patent data from across the globe.

Pat-INFORMED will reportedly link public patent information to registered medicines in a new online global gateway, helping health professionals to navigate the medicine-procurement process for the benefit of their citizens. It will act as a global gateway to medicine patent information.  It will offer new tools and resources to determine the existence of patents relevant to products sought by procurement bodies’ disease-management strategies or other work addressing public health needs.
 
20 leading global research-based biopharmaceutical companies have already committed to make information available via a database to be established by Pat-INFORMED, with more organizations expected to join.
 
The online initiative is expected to be operational by mid-2018 and will provide patent information for small molecule products within oncology; hepatitis C, cardiovascular, HIV, diabetes, and respiratory therapy areas; and any products on the WHO Essential Medicines List that are not within these therapy areas. In a second phase, the initiative will expand to all therapeutic areas and explore the inclusion of complex therapeutics.