GENEVA, December 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --
Partnership includes an
MPP licence for the
university's Solid Drug Nanoparticle
(SDN) Technology; Aims to support treatment
scale-up through cost cuts of
priority antiretrovirals (ARVs)
The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) today announced a collaboration
with the University of Liverpool and a
licence for the university's Solid Drug Nanoparticle (SDN)
technology to accelerate the development of WHO-recommended
antiretrovirals as nanomedicines. The agreement covers a territory
of all 135 low- and middle-income countries and two high-income
countries in Africa, where
licensees based anywhere in the world will have the right to make,
use and distribute lower cost ARVs based on SDN technology.
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"With the World Health Organization's "treat-all"
recommendations, more than 20 million people are still in need of
viable, sustainable treatment options," said Greg Perry, Executive Director of the MPP. "This
partnership seeks to help meet new international HIV scale-up
targets through the delivery of better-adapted low-dose medicines
at a significant price reduction."
"We are thrilled the MPP has joined us to develop medicines
based on SDN technology and to ensure that once developed, they
will reach people who need them the most in developing countries,"
said the University of Liverpool's Vice
Chancellor Janet Beer.
The University of Liverpool is one
of the UK's leading research institutions with global leadership in
the field of HIV and nanotechnology. Their nanotechnology programme
aims to overcome some of the challenges of antiretroviral treatment
today, including poor solubility and the need to administer large
doses to ensure that enough of the drug is absorbed into the body
to be effective. With an initial grant from the Research Council
UK, University of Liverpool researchers
have reformulated two HIV medicines to date and expect to conduct
human trials of some of the first oral HIV nanomedicines this
month. Currently, there are no HIV nanomedicines on the market.
Professor Andrew Owen from the
University's Department of Pharmacology said, "dose reduction can
lead to easier administration and potentially fewer side effects
for people living with HIV. Smaller oral pills also facilitate
lower production costs of active pharmaceutical ingredients which
could slash treatment bills and allow health ministries to provide
treatment to more people." Professor Steve
Rannard from the University's Department of Chemistry added,
"the university is proud of its interdisciplinary work in this
area, which is a triumph of cross-faculty collaborative
research."
Under the terms of the agreement, the University of Liverpool will develop nanoparticles
of ARVs licensed to the MPP such as atazanavir, darunavir and
lopinavir to improve their solubility and thus reduce dosage. The
MPP and the University of Liverpool
will engage with pharmaceutical partners for product development
and industrial scale-up. The MPP will then sub-license the
nano-formulated ARVs and facilitate competitive manufacturing to
spur wide distribution of the new medicines in low- and
middle-income countries.
"This collaboration marries the best of two leaders in the HIV
medicines space - MPP with its tremendous record in licensing
priority ARVs for adults and children of all ages and the
University of Liverpool with the
technology to revolutionise the way these ARVs are delivered," said
Philippe Douste-Blazy, Chair of the Executive Board at UNITAID. "We
are proud to back the MPP-University of
Liverpool initiative."
About the University of
Liverpool's Solid Drug Nanoparticle
(SDN) Technology Programme
Nanotechnology involves the reduction of matter to the scale of
a billionth of a meter (1/800 of a human hair) and is widely used
in fields such as electronics, cosmetics and energy. Nanomedicines
have been approved for the treatment of cancers, hepatitis and
other disease areas, but the application is relatively new to the
area of HIV. The university's SDN technology allows the
reformulation of poorly soluble and insoluble drugs into water
dispersible formulations and can improve the delivery of drugs into
the body. This improved bioavailability allows reductions in
the drug dosage and enables those drugs previously unsuitable for
oral delivery to become orally bioavailable with therapeutically
relevant pharmacokinetics.
About the Medicines Patent Pool
The Medicines Patent Pool is a United Nations-back public health
organisation working to increase access to HIV, viral hepatitis C
and tuberculosis treatments in low- and middle-income countries.
Through its innovative business model, the MPP partners with
industry, civil society, international organisations, patient
groups and other stakeholders to prioritise, forecast and license
needed medicines and pool intellectual property to encourage
generic manufacture and the development of new formulations. To
date, the MPP has signed agreements with six patent holders for
twelve HIV antiretrovirals and for one hepatitis C direct-acting
antiviral. Its generic partners have distributed more than three
billion doses of low-cost medicines to 117 countries. The MPP was
founded and remains fully funded by UNITAID.
SOURCE Medicines Patent Pool