Pat-INFORMED, new WIPO database to simplify the access to medicines

Information on more than 14,000 patents

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) launched Pat-INFORMED, an initiative whose aim is to simplify medicine purchase to sanitary community. Among all the advantages that this entails, we would like to highlight the most immediate one, as Wesley Kreft, Director of Global Supply Chain i+solutions, pointed out 'More-efficient procurement processes save lives by getting medicines to people more quickly'.

Pat-INFORMED is an easy-to-use public database that does not require registration, anyone can obtain relevant information on the legal status of a Pharmaceutical patent in a certain country simply by introducing its INN (International Nonproprietary Name, exclusive name recognised and used worldwide to identify a pharmaceutical substance or an active ingredient present at medicines that cover a wide range of diseases). The WIPO will home the database and provide the necessary resources to guarantee its constant development, while the IFPMA will collaborate closely with the 20 main biopharmaceutical companies centred on research that have supported the initiative to take care of the coherent and coordinated approach of the project.

Pat-INFORMED currently contains information of more than 14,000 patents, corresponding to 600 patent families and 169 DCI, in the fields of oncology, hepatitis C and cardiovascular diseases, HIV, diabetes and respiratory therapies as well as the products that appear on the Essential Medicines List of the WHO (World Health Organization) that do not belong to these therapeutic areas. In a second period, the initiative will be extended to the remaining therapeutic fields.

The launch of this initiative took place on September 25th as one of the parallel activities to the Assemblies of the Member States of WIPO 2018.