The Medicines Patent Pool has started negotiations with two pharmaceutical companies, Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), and is in negotiations with five other patent holders, according to a UNITAID statement. The patent pool, which aims to improve access to affordable HIV medicines by competition between generic manufacturers, recently concluded its first licensing agreement with Gilead Sciences. UNITAID is now urging the remaining companies not in negotiations—Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Abbott—to join.

To read the UNITAID statement, click here.