Recent news
May 2010
South Africa to use new drug patent pool to speed development of malaria, TB drugs
South Africa will become the first government to tap into a drug patent pool established by pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline and run by BIO Ventures for Global Health. The pool was set up to speed the development of drugs for neglected diseases by sharing patented information owned by drug companies and academic institutions. The Massachusetts Institute for Technology has also become the first academic institution to contribute to the patent pool.
In related news, regulators, scientists at 17 companies, and academic researchers have teamed up to create the Predictive Safety Testing Consortium, which aims to share information about drug testing in the laboratory. The consortium includes the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency, and members hope to streamline the drug approval process as well. See the links below for more details.
