COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) & The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP)
C-TAP was launched in May 2020 by the WHO and the Government of Costa Rica with the support of 44 Member States, UN Development Programme, Unitaid, UNAIDS, and implementing partners such as MPP. It works under the principles of the Solidarity call to action and was designed to serve as a platform for developers of COVID-19 therapeutics, diagnostics, vaccines and other health products to voluntarily share their intellectual property, knowledge, and data to accelerate technological innovation and expand global production capacity.
C-TAP was acknowledged as an important tool in the 2021 “ Local Production Resolution” to facilitate sustainable access to quality-assured, safe, effective and affordable medicines and other health technologies. Furthermore, it has played an important role in raising awareness of the role of technology and knowledge sharing and access-oriented voluntary licensing.
C-TAP has also established a Technology Access Pool database that provides a searchable repository. With a principle of transparency, this publicly available database will support coordination and will link to other data sharing platforms where clinical, regulatory, patent, and manufacturers data is available for selected technologies. WHO is preparing to share findings of the review of C-TAP and a proposed model for an evolved technology access pool. Stakeholders will have an opportunity to provide comments on a concept paper including the process and timelines for its implementation.
About MPP
The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) is a United Nations-backed public health organisation working to increase access to and facilitate the development of life-saving medicines for low- and middle-income countries. Through its innovative business model, MPP partners with civil society, governments, international organisations, industry, patient groups, and other stakeholders to prioritise and license needed medicines and pool intellectual property to encourage generic manufacture and the development of new formulations.
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