ViiV Licenses Tivicay to Medicines Patent Pool

ViiV Licenses Tivicay to Medicines Patent Pool

ViiV Healthcare is licensing its HIV drug Tivicay to the Medicines Patent Pool in an effort to increase access to adults and children living with the virus.

A royalty-free license will apply to all least-developed, low-income and sub-Saharan African countries, ViiV said last week. For Egypt, Indonesia, India, Turkmenistan, the Philippines and Vietnam, the license will have a tiered royalty structure, with a small percentage of the sale price paid based on the specific country’s gross domestic product.

MPP’s voluntary license will also allow generic drugmakers to develop pediatric formulations of Tivicay (dolutegravir) without paying royalties in 121 countries in which 99 percent of HIV-infected children live. A commitment to lower-dose tablets and age-appropriate formulations — if and when any regulatory agencies approve them — is included in the license.

According to MPP, Tivicay is a significant step forward in HIV treatment, as it is safe and effective in small doses, does not need boosting and can be used in treatment-naïve HIV patients and in those who have developed resistance to other antiretroviral drugs.

Tivicay was approved in the EU in January and in the U.S. in August 2013. It is indicated in the U.S. for use with other ARVs to treat HIV-1 in patients age 12 and older who weigh at least 88 pounds. 

ViiV is a joint venture of Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline, specializing in HIV treatments. MPP was formed in 2010 to lower the prices of HIV medicines and spur development of better-adapted HIV treatments. — Lena Freund

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