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News
Affordable, life-saving medicines for all: 海角社区 adopts Global Access Licensing Principles for research conducted on campus
Published: 23 May 2019
海角社区, in conjunction with Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM), has committed to increasing access to life-saving medicines by adopting Global Access Licensing Principles. 海角社区 is the third Canadian university to adopt the principles, demonstrating a dedication to ensure that any research and university-developed technologies created on 海角社区鈥檚 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 海角社区鈥檚 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 海角社区 chapter of UAEM has worked alongside to create a best suited for 海角社区. Students from the 海角社区 UAEM chapter have simultaneously worked to raise awareness of the importance of transparency and equitable licensing of medicines by passing a motion in 海角社区鈥檚 Student Society, meeting with members of the administration, and organizing various creative advocacy events around campus.
The finalized version of 海角社区鈥檚 Global Access Licensing Principles affirms 海角社区鈥檚 commitments to research transparency and to publishing results, commitments shared by the Montreal Neurological Institute鈥檚 Open Science Initiative. It is therefore 海角社区鈥檚 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 海角社区鈥檚 GALF is a commitment to annually report on its licensing activity. By issuing such a report, 海角社区 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, 海角社区 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 海角社区 Innovation + Partnerships鈥� new .
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Media contact:
Meaghan Thurston, Senior Communications Officer
Research and Innovation
海角社区
tel: (514) 398-3400
meaghan.thurston [at] mcgill.ca
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