MSF Launches Online 'Patent Opposition Database'
“The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has launched an online resource to help civil society and patient groups in developing countries challenge unwarranted drug patents,” an MSF press release reports. “MSF’s Patent Opposition Database comes as many developing countries are facing dramatically high drug prices because patents are blocking the production of lower-cost generic versions of medicines,” the press release states, adding the database “will allow organizations to forge new alliances and share vital specialist knowledge, as a patent application can often be challenged in different countries on the same basis” (10/5).
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