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Fewer essential medicines on patent

Fewer essential medicines on patent

Our analysis of patenting on the WHO’s latest Essential Medicine List (22nd edition, 2021) shows a decline in the percentage of patented medicines for the first time.
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Key Takeaways

  • The latest edition of the World Health Organization’s Essential Medicines List, the 22nd Edition (2021), has seen a decline in the percentage of patented medicines for the first time since researchers have been tracking the number. As of January 2022, 35 out of the 477 total items (7.3%) listed on the 22nd edition of the EML are patented ina middle or low income country.

 

  • 19% of lower income countries surveyed do not have any active patents listed for the 35 patented medicines on the 22nd EML. 83% of lower income countries have 50 or fewer active EML medicine patents.

 

  • Approximately 25% of all active EML patents in lower income countries are subject to an MPP license, bilateral license, and/or commitment to not enforce.
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Prof. Mark Schultz
Senior Fellow

Professor Mark F. Schultz is the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Endowed Chair in Intellectual Property Law, the Director of the Intellectual Property and Technology Law Program at the University of Akron School of Law. He was a professor at Southern Illinois University School of Law for 16 years and was co-founder and a leader of the Center for Protection of Intellectual Property (CPIP) at George Mason University in Washington, D.C., where he remains a non-resident Senior Scholar. He also serves as a Senior Fellow of the Geneva Network.