MSF Launches Patent Opposition Database

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, Doctors without Borders) today announced the launch of the “Patent Opposition Database,” an online resource to help patient groups or others to oppose wrongful patent applications as a way to ensure access remains open for affordable generic drugs.

The database is accessible at patentoppositions.org, here.

A patent opposition is a legal challenge aimed at blocking the granting of an unwarranted patent, MSF said.

The database was launched on the tenth anniversary of a landmark decision by the central intellectual property court in Thailand to overturn a patent on a key HIV drug based on opposition filed by patients. India and Brazil also have used this process.