Treatment Action Group (TAG) and the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC) are pleased to share recordings with subtitles in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese and materials from “Same Meds, New Patents: What Do Activists Need to Know About Long-Acting Formulations?” which outlined the findings of TAG’s “Hepatitis C and Tuberculosis Long-Acting Medicines: Analysis on Patenting Trends” report, originally presented on November 4, 2021.
Long-Acting Formulations (LAFs) have the potential to make treatment for hepatitis C (HCV) and tuberculosis (TB) easier to adhere to, less stigmatizing and more accessible. Unitaid’s LONGEVITY project and other institutions are currently working on several such technologies. TAG’s report analyzed the patent landscape for six LAFs in the development pipeline, assessing how intellectual property issues could impact the availability of LAFs to people who would benefit from them.
The webinar featured a panel of treatment activists with ITPC’s Make Medicines Affordable campaign, who discussed how patents may curtail access to these new tools and strategies to secure generic treatments in the Ukraine, Brazil, and Thailand. By better understanding the role LAFs and intellectual property barriers play in global health, one hopes that researchers, clinicians, civil society members, patients and other advocates will be equipped to take proactive steps to make sure these innovative products reach the communities who need them most.
Link for the recording of the sessions in different languages
