Medicines Patent Pool signs first sub-licenses for daclatasvir

The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) has announced its first sub-licenses for the generic production of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s (NYSE: BMY) daclatasvir.

Generic companies Cipla, Emcure, Hetero and Natco have signed non-exclusive, royalty-free agreements to produce and sell the antiviral in 112 lower and middle income countries.

The sub-licenses follow an initial license agreement in November between the United Nations-backed MPP and Bristol-Myers Squibb, which paved the way for generic manufacture of the novel direct-acting antiviral which is proven to help cure multiple genotypes of the hepatitis C virus.