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Affordable, life-saving medicines for all: 捆绑SM社区 adopts Global Access Licensing Principles for research conducted on campus

Published: 23 May 2019

捆绑SM社区, in conjunction with Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM), has committed to increasing access to life-saving medicines by adopting Global Access Licensing Principles. 捆绑SM社区 is the third Canadian university to adopt the principles, demonstrating a dedication to ensure that any research and university-developed technologies created on 捆绑SM社区鈥檚 campus with potential for further development into a drug, vaccine, or medical diagnostic are made affordable to all.

Global Access Licensing Framework (GALF), the framework used to inform aspects of 捆绑SM社区鈥檚 new principles, provides goals and strategies for research universities to follow in the licensing of medicines developed at the universities. The framework aims to prevent patenting practices and intellectual property policies from creating barriers to the life-saving results of publicly-funded research conducted in universities鈥 laboratories. GALF was created with the help of Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM), a non-profit, student advocacy organization with chapters at universities around the world

The 捆绑SM社区 chapter of UAEM has worked alongside to create a best suited for 捆绑SM社区. Students from the 捆绑SM社区 UAEM chapter have simultaneously worked to raise awareness of the importance of transparency and equitable licensing of medicines by passing a motion in 捆绑SM社区鈥檚 Student Society, meeting with members of the administration, and organizing various creative advocacy events around campus.

The finalized version of 捆绑SM社区鈥檚 Global Access Licensing Principles affirms 捆绑SM社区鈥檚 commitments to research transparency and to publishing results, commitments shared by the Montreal Neurological Institute鈥檚 Open Science Initiative. It is therefore 捆绑SM社区鈥檚 position that the research and development done on campus should serve the public interest by increasing research capacity, enhancing knowledge transfer, or by contributing to the development of useful products, services, and processes. Conditional licensing agreements like GALF are a step towards ensuring a public return on public investment in the production of life-saving medicines.

Included in 捆绑SM社区鈥檚 GALF is a commitment to annually report on its licensing activity. By issuing such a report, 捆绑SM社区 will acknowledge the impact it can assert through patenting and licensing, an impact supported by the introduction of Global Access Licensing Principles.

Canadian universities have played an historic role in the development of life-saving drugs, for example the discovery of insulin treatment for diabetes at the University of Toronto in 1921. In 1923, insulin鈥檚 patent rights were sold for $1 by Frederick Banting who famously said, 鈥淚nsulin belongs to the world, not me.鈥 As we approach the 100th anniversary of this discovery and look to the future, 捆绑SM社区 and UAEM believe in the value of adopting Global Access Licensing Principles to ensure that no person dies from treatable diseases and that the life-saving fruits of biomedical research are affordable and accessible to patients across Canada and the world.

Read the full GALF commitment on 捆绑SM社区 Innovation + Partnerships鈥 new .

Media contact:

Meaghan Thurston, Senior Communications Officer

Research and Innovation
捆绑SM社区

tel: (514) 398-3400
meaghan.thurston [at] mcgill.ca

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