No­var­tis signs land­mark li­cens­ing deal to ex­pand ac­cess to patent­ed can­cer drug

The Med­i­cines Patent Pool on Thurs­day un­veiled a new vol­un­tary li­cens­ing agree­ment with No­var­tis to in­crease ac­cess to its patent­ed, sec­ond-line chron­ic myeloid leukemia drug Tasigna (nilo­tinib) in cer­tain low­er-in­come coun­tries.

The drug, which is on the WHO’s list of es­sen­tial med­i­cines, will now be made by se­lect gener­ic man­u­fac­tur­ers and of­fered in sev­en mid­dle-in­come coun­tries — Egypt, Guatemala, In­done­sia, Mo­roc­co, Pak­istan, the Philip­pines and Tunisia — where patents on the prod­uct are pend­ing or in force.

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