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Company: Abbott Laboratories
Headquarters: Illinois, USA

These are the drug patents we want Abbott to put in the pool and why patients need them:

Lopinavir (LPV) and ritonavir, both individually and in combination

Ritonavir (Brand name: Norvir) is a crucial drug – it is the only ‘booster’ drug which when used in combination with certain other drugs, forms an incredibly important combination therapy.

One of these drugs is lopinavir, and the patents for both lopinavir and ritonavir are owned by Abbott. Today, the combination of lopinavir and ritonavir (Brand name: Kaletra or Aluvia) is the ONLY boosted combination coming in a single pill AND in a form that doesn’t need refrigeration. This is so important in many settings where there’s no power supply let alone a working refrigerator.

Battles have been fought over access to this key combination drug. It’s absolutely essential for those patients whose earlier drugs are failing to keep the HIV virus in check.

Ritonavir could be used to boost other drugs too. But a long delay in the production of a heat-stable version of the drug means that other drugs requiring the use of a booster don’t yet come in an easy-to-use combination tablet. Putting this drug in the pool would open up a treasure chest of other easy-to-take, fixed-dose combination pills with a whole host of other antiretrovirals.

So we need Abbott to put the individual patents on ritonavir and lopinavir, as well as the patents on the combination of the two, in to the UNITAID patent pool.