On November 6, 2009, Berkeley’s Center for Law and Technology and Berkeley’s chapter of Universities Allied for Essential Medicines will host a meeting on the next steps in the design and launch of patent pools for the development of affordable, novel therapeutics and combination therapies for HIV and other Neglected Diseases. Scientists, patient advocates, IP scholars, pharmaceutical and biotech executives, and legal professionals will discuss the design of prior pools, consider the UNITAD-proposed HIV/AIDS pool, and evaluate additional pool designs for neglected diseases.

Panelists from UNITAID, Gilead Sciences, GlaxoSmithKline, the FTC, Doctors Without Borders, the Drugs for Neglected Disease Initiative, Emory University, Duke University, UC Berkeley, VIA Licensing, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Fenwick & West, Fish & Richardson, and others will describe current and planned endeavors to increase innovation and access to therapies.

Designed to facilitate collaboration across sectors, the workshop aims to combine the best science and the best practices of university, industry, and not-for-profit actors to address this preeminent challenge of our generation.

Participants include several representatives from Pfizer, Sanofi Pasteur, Merck, Merck Frosst Canada, the Gates Foundation, Soros Foundation, Medicines for Malaria Venture, Institute for One World Health, Project Inform, and tech transfer managers from Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA, UC Davis, Columbia, Boston University, Johns Hopkins, Wisconsin, UNC, and the University of British Columbia.